Pickleball Facility In Arizona Allegedly Pulling Off A $280 Million Scam

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The Dink -- This week, the SEC and Department of Justice announced charges against Randy Miller, Chad Miller, and Jeffrey De Laveaga, the executives behind Legacy Cares and its for-profit affiliate, Legacy Sports. They’re accused of defrauding investors out of more than $280 million by using forged documents, inflated revenue projections, and fictitious commitments from sports organizations—including some from the pickleball world—to sell municipal bonds funding the project.



The SEC alleges that the defendants faked letters of intent and contracts from sports organizations, some of which didn’t even know they were being included in investor decks…They claimed the park would be booked solid from Day 1, projecting $100 million in first-year revenue—enough to make municipal bond investors rich and comfortable. Instead, Legacy Park opened in early 2022, struggled with attendance, failed to meet its revenue goals, defaulted on its bonds in October of that year, and filed for bankruptcy by May 2023. The facility, which cost nearly $300 million to build, sold for less than $26 million. Less than $2.5 million was returned to investors.

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