Principal in Botched Dillon Stadium Plan Gets Prison Time

HARTFORD, CT — A ringleader in a botched plan to revamp Dillon Stadium and bring pro soccer to Hartford has been given a free kick right to prison, a leading prosecutor said.

John H. Durham, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that James Duckett Jr., 45, was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 36 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for 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.

On July 6, a jury found Duckett guilty of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering offenses stemming from the scheme.

According to the evidence at trial, in September 2014, the City of Hartford entered into a professional services agreement with Mitchell Anderson and his company, Premier Sports Management Group, also kmnown as PSMG, to secure a professional soccer team and to develop a new, 9,000-seat facility at the Dillon Stadium location.

Under the terms of the agreement, PSMG was entitled to receive $775,000 for serving as the project manager for the $12 million plan, according to case records.

In February 2015, Anderson joined forces with Duckett, who agreed to be the majority owner of the professional soccer team, according to case records. The two 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 soccer franchise, case records show.

Ducket "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, according to case records.

Beginning in approximately March 2015, Anderson submitted invoices to the city for reimbursement to PSMG subcontractors working on the project, according to case records. 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, according to case records.

Duckett and Anderson also secured invoices from subcontractors who had not performed work for the project, which Duckett and Anderson had submitted to the city as if the work had been performed, according to case records.

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 case records.

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.

Duckett was arrested on June 23, 2016.

A jury found Duckett guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and eight counts of conducting illegal monetary transactions. The jury found Duckett not guilty of one count of conducting illegal monetary transactions.

The government advocated for a sentence of 60 months of imprisonment. Judge Underhill will issue a restitution order after further submissions by the parties.

Duckett who is released on bond, was ordered to report to prison on Jan. 31.

On Feb. 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. He awaits sentencing. Anderson has agreed to make restitution in the total amount of $1,134,595.37 to the City of Hartford and two subcontractors of the Dillon Stadium project, records show.

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