Craig Carton is adamant he's not the scumbag con artist he's being made out to be -- claiming he's an innocent victim who was set up by a group of very bad people.
Carton was arrested by the FBI this week and accused of running a multi-million dollar concert ticket scam to pay back millions of dollars in debts to various casinos.
But a rep for the sports radio star says he's NOT A BAD GUY -- the feds simply have a "gross misunderstanding of what happened."
A rep for Carton didn't provide too many details about his defense -- but would only say he's not going down without a fight.
“The government’s allegations against Craig Carton demonstrate a gross misunderstanding of what happened."
"Craig is a victim who was deceived, manipulated and used by individuals seeking to gather assets for their own fraudulent schemes."
The rep says Craig is a "good man" who is heavily involved in charity work to benefit children and police officers.