Republican donor traded Taylor Swift tickets for sex acts in 'bizarre' scheme: report
A now-deceased Republican donor was reportedly involved in a fraudulent scheme to trade Taylor Swift tickets for sex acts and nude photos before he died.
Kent Stermon, who was found dead in December 2022 after purportedly committing suicide, had been facing charges of false imprisonment and solicitation for prostitution, according to News4JAX. He killed himself before he could be charged in the case.
The outlet reported that it "started with a series of social media messages and telephone calls between an unidentified young woman and Stermon in which Stermon claimed that he could get tickets and VIP access for her to a Taylor Swift’s 'Eras' tour concert in Tampa."
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"Investigators said Stermon set up a fake email account and pretended to be a backstage security staffer who was a gatekeeper for VIP access to the concert. Stermon, pretending to be the staffer, then coerced the woman, who he knew, into sending provocative photos of herself and answering a series of personal questions, according to the SAO," News4JAX reported on Saturday. "While this was going on, Stermon was also talking to the young woman through his personal cell phone. He later told the woman to buy the concert tickets and said he would reimburse her, the investigation found, and then told her to come by his office to get the money for the tickets."
When the woman showed up at Stermon’s office, he would not let her leave the room until she showed him her breasts, according to the woman.
"The woman said she eventually told her father what happened and he confronted Stermon before the two reported the incident to police on Nov. 29," the outlet wrote. "Because investigators found Stermon used a fake Yahoo account to contact the woman, he also faced potential charges of unlawful use of a two-way communication device."
Stermon is also identified in the news report as a "long-time friend to Gov. Ron DeSantis."