Ex-Avon Resident Sentenced in Soccer Stadium Fraud

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A former Avon resident now living in Florida was sentenced Friday to six months in prison in connection with his role in a fraud scheme involving the redevelopment of Hartford’s Dillon Stadium and a plan to bring a professional soccer team to the city.

Mitchell Anderson, 53, of Bradenton, Fla., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to six months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, according to John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and evidence introduced during the trial of Anderson’s co-defendant, James C. Duckett, Jr., in September 2014, the city of Hartford entered into a professional services agreement with Anderson and his company, Premier Sports Management Group (PSMG), to secure a professional soccer team and to develop a new, 9,000-seat facility at the Dillon Stadium location, Durham said.

Under the terms of the agreement, PSMG was entitled to receive $775,000 for serving as the project manager for the $12 million plan. In February 2015, Anderson joined with Duckett, who agreed to be the majority owner of the professional soccer team, Durham said.

Duckett and Anderson represented to various city officials that PSMG and Duckett’s Black Diamond Consulting Group had merged for purposes of completing the Dillon Stadium project and securing the professional soccer team. Duckett represented that he was a former professional football player in the NFL and that Black Diamond was involved in a casino project and sports-related projects in Las Vegas and Atlanta, Durham said.

Beginning around March 2015, Anderson submitted invoices to the city for reimbursement to PSMG subcontractors working on the project. However, rather than pay the total amounts owed to PSMG’s subcontractors, Duckett and Anderson directed more than $1 million that PSMG received from the city to themselves, PSMG, Black Diamond, and other entities not related to the Dillon Stadium project, Durham said.

Duckett and Anderson also secured invoices from subcontractors who had not performed work for the project, which Duckett and Anderson caused to be submitted to the city as if the work had been performed. Duckett and Anderson then illegally used the proceeds of the fraud in a series of bank transactions to pay individuals and companies for expenses unrelated to the Dillon Stadium, according to Durham.

The investigation revealed that Duckett used funds that the city provided to PSMG to purchase a Range Rover that cost approximately $120,000, to pay unrelated attorneys’ fees and a $20,000 “finder’s fee” to an individual, and for other personal expenses including luxury clothing and jewelry items, Durham said.

Anderson has agreed to make restitution of more than $1.1 million to the city of Hartford and two subcontractors of the Dillon Stadium project, Durham said.

Anderson and Duckett were arrested on June 23, 2016. On February 6, 2017, Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and one count of conducting illegal monetary transactions.

Anderson, who is free on a $100,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on April 8, 2018, Durham said.

On July 6, 2017, a jury found Duckett guilty of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from the scheme. On December 6, Judge Underhill sentenced him to 36 months of imprisonment, Durham said.

Photo credit: Black Diamond