Phony Dallas concert promoter sentenced to six years in federal wire fraud case

A Dallas man was sentenced this month to over six years in prison after he admitted to defrauding investors of over $1 million in a phony concert-promoter scheme, federal prosecutors said.

Carlos Desean Goodspeed, 45, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud in October 2025.

In addition to the prison time, a judge ruled that Goodspeed must pay the sum back to 17 victims of his scheme, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Goodspeed operated a business under the name “Straight Like That Entertainment,” where he falsely presented himself as a concert promoter for events involving A-listers like Beyonce, Bad Bunny, Future, Nicki Minaj and Tyler the Creator, according to court documents.

One victim wired $180,000 to Goodspeed, who said the investment would be used to purchase tickets and suites for multiple Tyler the Creator shows, and that the investor would be repaid once the shows took place. He later admitted to using that investor’s money for rent payments, high-end purchases and travel fees, investigators said.

At the sentencing hearing, another victim testified that she used part of an inheritance to invest with Goodspeed in hopes of paying medical bills for a relative with cancer. When Goodspeed didn’t pay her back, she was forced to take out loans to pay for the family member’s funeral expenses.

While Goodspeed was on pretrial release before his guilty plea, a federal judge found probable cause to believe that he continued soliciting and receiving investments in violation of his release conditions, officials said.