rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Sucks for the bondholders. But at the end of the day we (the soccer community) benefit from having those fields.
Bell Bank Park Venue
- Thread starter Club Soccer
- Start date
young@heart
BRONZE
word on the street is the Millers are looking to open an "IMG" type facility/academy in the valley ...anyone know anything about this?
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
Oh please no. They should all be moving out of state or hiring lots of lawyers...
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
I drove for hours in this direction, pulled in to the parking lot - and only then realized that the team was playing at this infamous complex! Will likely see only the basketball fieldhouse rather than any of the soccer facilities, but everything seems to be working so far.
Found an article with info that will likely frustrate people even more. Muni Bond Blowup Exposes Flaws in $600 Billion Corner of Market - Bloomberg (archive.is)
Highlights...
- Total amount lent to Legacy Cares was 280 million
- All it took for Legacy Cares to secure the funding was an eight-page prospectus to the Arizona Industrial Development Authority (AZIDA)
- In the 8 page prospectus Legacy Cares (Randy Miller) stated that he had a partnership with international soccer powerhouse Manchester United
- Manchester United, told Bloomberg News they never signed the “pre-contracts” or “letters of intent” cited in the bond prospectus
- Manchester United never authorized using the park as a US training ground, said Andrew Ward, a spokesman for the team. Ward said the purported letter from the UK-based club that was included in the prospectus is fake.
- The prospectus included a letter from Real Salt Lake-AZ’s executive director, Brent Erwin, saying the club agreed to relocate its 7,000 players, tournaments and camps to Legacy’s park.
- Erwin said the organization made no such commitment and the signature on the letter isn’t his.
“We never signed or committed anything to Legacy Sports Complex,” Erwin said in an email. “We took the meeting when they were pitching the complex but made the decision to move no games, training or tournaments to the facility.”
- Michael Grimm, a spokesman for B.C. Ziegler & Co., the investment bank that underwrote the bond issues, declined to comment for this story. The underwriter was among those sued in the Saybrook-led lawsuit, and Grimm said the firm would address any questions about its role “in the context of any litigation.”
- Stephen Griffin, a consultant for Saybrook Fund Advisors, which set up a vehicle that filed suit against Miller and other parties to the bond sale after the default
Here's the Net...
Randy Miller created a fake 8 page prospectus for Bell Bank. Presented it to Arizona Development Authority and AZIDA game him 280 million.
Highlights...
- Total amount lent to Legacy Cares was 280 million
- All it took for Legacy Cares to secure the funding was an eight-page prospectus to the Arizona Industrial Development Authority (AZIDA)
- In the 8 page prospectus Legacy Cares (Randy Miller) stated that he had a partnership with international soccer powerhouse Manchester United
- Manchester United, told Bloomberg News they never signed the “pre-contracts” or “letters of intent” cited in the bond prospectus
- Manchester United never authorized using the park as a US training ground, said Andrew Ward, a spokesman for the team. Ward said the purported letter from the UK-based club that was included in the prospectus is fake.
- The prospectus included a letter from Real Salt Lake-AZ’s executive director, Brent Erwin, saying the club agreed to relocate its 7,000 players, tournaments and camps to Legacy’s park.
- Erwin said the organization made no such commitment and the signature on the letter isn’t his.
“We never signed or committed anything to Legacy Sports Complex,” Erwin said in an email. “We took the meeting when they were pitching the complex but made the decision to move no games, training or tournaments to the facility.”
- Michael Grimm, a spokesman for B.C. Ziegler & Co., the investment bank that underwrote the bond issues, declined to comment for this story. The underwriter was among those sued in the Saybrook-led lawsuit, and Grimm said the firm would address any questions about its role “in the context of any litigation.”
- Stephen Griffin, a consultant for Saybrook Fund Advisors, which set up a vehicle that filed suit against Miller and other parties to the bond sale after the default
Here's the Net...
Randy Miller created a fake 8 page prospectus for Bell Bank. Presented it to Arizona Development Authority and AZIDA game him 280 million.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
I'm assuming criminal charges should be coming down?
There haven't been any criminal charges so far. At least none that I've heard about.
Assuming everything written in the article is true. Randy Miller clearly used fraud to get AZIDA to create the bonds needed to raise 280 million.
Both AZIDA and B.C. Ziegler & Co. (the underwriter) did no due diligence regarding Randy Millers 8 page prospectus that was used to get 280 million. For that amount of money you'd think that they'd call Manchester United and Real Salt Lake to confirm that the prospectus is accurate.
Think about the numbers...
- 280 million loaned
- Sold in BK for 25.5 million
- Was in business for 3 years (2021-2023)
- Made 25 million per year
280+(25*3)-25.5= 329.5 million in Building/Maintenace costs and salary for 3 years of doing business. The numbers just don't make sense. Someone pocketed a bunch of cash or paid way too much for construction + got kickbacks.
Is the 25 million per year profit, or income. If profit, then buying the place for 25.5 million was a great deal. Have to believe that was just income with approx. 3-4 million in profit per year. At a cost of 280 million in bonds at the beginning, you needed a minimum of about 30-40 million in profit per year.
RANDY MILLER and CHAD MILLER pled guilty to securities fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Father And Son Plead Guilty To Defrauding Sports Park Bondholders
Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that RANDY MILLER and CHAD MILLER pled guilty to securities fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with their scheme to defraud municipal bond investors.
FlintDempsey
BRONZE
I spent way, WAY too much time following this whole mess for someone who wasn't ripped off in this scam. It is heartening to see some limited justice happen in this case. What a mess from start to finish (hopefully the facility isn't toast, just the scammers are). We are out there all the time. Hopefully the new owners can settle things out and move forward. Some of the design of the place was lacking vision (parking 500 miles away from the entrance to the fields, how they are trying to charge for parking, etc) and understanding of how facilities work. Can't change that now but we do need the fields here in the SE valley.
280 million loaned from primarily old people that thought they were investing in very conservative municipal bonds.
Randy and Chad got charged with 1 count of securities fraud with a 5 year sentence that was spread across both so they'll only spend 2.5 years each in prison.
Randy has to pay 7.2 million and Randy has to pay 4.7 million.
We all know they have $$$ that they stole squirreled away somewhere. Seems like a fair trade 2.5 years in fed prison in exchange for 280 million in $$$.
"RANDY MILLER, 70, and CHAD MILLER, 41, both of Phoenix, Arizona, pled guilty to one count of securities offering fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years in prison. As part of their guilty pleas, money judgments in the amounts of $7,289,134.89 and $4,798,980.19 were entered against RANDY MILLER and CHAD MILLER, respectively."