Father and son who developed Mesa sports park plead guilty to defrauding investors

PHOENIX — The father and son developers of a sprawling Mesa sports park that went bankrupt pleaded guilty to defrauding investors, authorities announced Wednesday.

Randy Miller, 70, and Chad Miller, 41, face up to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to one count each of securities offering fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The Millers were arrested in early April after being named in a four-count federal indictment.

They will be sentenced at a date to be determined. Securities offering fraud has a maximum sentence of five years, while aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.

The plea deals included money judgments of approximately $7.3 million against Randy Miller and $4.8 million against Chad Miller.

“Randy and Chad Miller’s fraudulent actions resulted in nearly total losses for investors,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a press release Wednesday. “As today’s guilty pleas make clear, this office remains committed to protecting the integrity of the public finance system and holding accountable those who exploit investors’ trust.”

Randy Miller was the chairman and president and Chad Miller was the CEO of Legacy Sports, which developed the 320-acre project now known as Arizona Athletic Grounds.

What were Mesa sports park developers accused of doing?

According to prosecutors, the Phoenix residents scammed investors out of more than $280 million through municipal bond offerings while personally profiting from the proceeds.

The Millers were accused of lying to potential investors about customer interest in the Mesa sports park and using forged or altered documents to mislead them.

The complex was known as Bell Bank Park when it opened to much fanfare in January 2022 at Ellsworth and Pecos roads.

The sports and entertainment venue features dozens of indoor and outdoor courts for a wide range of activities as well as food and beverage options, meeting space, a gymnastics center and more.

Investors were led to believe the sprawling facility would be 100% occupied when it opened and generate nearly $100 million in first-year revenue, prosecutors said.

Mesa sports park defaulted on bond payments within months

However, it failed to bring in enough income to cover monthly bond payments despite drawing millions of visitors and was in default by October 2022.

In April 2023, Bell Bank announced it was ending its long-term naming rights partnership, citing numerous defaults under the deal. The complex continued to operate as Legacy Park, but the ownership group filed for bankruptcy weeks later.

A private equity firm eventually acquired the property for just over $25.5 million and rebranded it as Arizona Athletic Grounds.

Prosecutors said that less than $2.5 million of the Mesa sports park’s proceeds went toward the approximately $284 million owed to bondholders.

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