The commissioners accepted the gifts even as the FCC was reviewing or about to review major Paramount business decisions, including two megamergers. Seven of the 10 commissioners who served since 2016 accepted tickets worth more than $260,000, according to a ProPublica analysis of ethics disclosures. Federal ethics rules ban employees from taking gifts from any entity that does business with, is regulated by or seeks official action from their agency. An FCC spokesperson previously told ProPublica that agency ethics officers have for years cleared commissioners to accept the tickets, finding it consistent with ethics law. Carr last year defended the FCC’s approval of the Paramount merger with Skydance, saying it “advances the public interest.”