SEC Charges Three Arizona Men with Providing False Documents to Investors in $284M Municipal Bond Offerings

SEC Charges Three Arizona Individuals with Defrauding Investors in $284 Million Municipal Bond Offering That Financed Sports Complex

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Randall “Randy” Miller, Chad Miller, and Jeffrey De Laveaga with creating false documents that were provided to investors in two municipal bond offerings that raised $284 million to build one of the largest sports venues of its kind in the United States.

As alleged in the SEC’s complaint, in August 2020 and June 2021, Randy Miller’s nonprofit company, Legacy Cares, issued approximately $284 million in municipal bonds through an Arizona state entity to finance the construction of a multi-sports park and family entertainment center in Mesa, Arizona. Investors were to be paid from revenue from the sports complex, and investors were given financial projections for revenue that were multiple times the amount needed to cover payments to investors, according to the complaint. However, the complaint alleges that the defendants fabricated or altered documents forming the basis for those revenue projections, including letters of intent and contracts with sports clubs, leagues, and other entities to use the sports complex. The sports complex opened in January 2022 with far fewer events and much lower attendance and generated tens of millions less in revenue than expected under the false projections, and the bonds defaulted in October 2022, according to the complaint.

Commonwealth Financial $93 Million to SEC Pulled on Appeal

Commonwealth Financial Network doesn’t have to pay the SEC over $93 million for purportedly paltry disclosures of its revenue-sharing agreement without a jury review of whether more detailed disclosures would’ve changed investors’ minds, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

The district court shouldn’t have granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment, a three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said while vacating that decision and a disgorgement order, returning the case to the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts for further proceedings.

NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal Inks $1.7M Settlement Over FTX Promotion

What began as a months-long pursuit to serve court papers to Shaquille O’Neal—the 7’1″ NBA Hall of Famer, sports analyst and entertainer—over a class action lawsuit for promoting the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has resulted in the signing Tuesday of a $1.7 million settlement.

Adam Moskowitz, the managing partner at the Moskowitz Law Firm in Coconut Grove, Florida, and David Boies, chairman emeritus of Boies Schiller Flexner in New York, are lead counsel for the class of investors who lost billions of dollars in FTX and sought to hold those allegedly involved financially accountable.

“It’s the largest individual promoter payment to date in this case,” Moskowitz said in an interview. “But much less than the billions of dollars of damages that we are seeking against the remaining promoters, like Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady.”

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander to sue Tesla for securities fraud, citing Elon Musk’s government role, falling stock price

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has asked the city law department to file a federal securities fraud lawsuit against Tesla Inc. on behalf of the city’s pension system, alleging the company made “material misstatements” about CEO Elon Musk’s role now that Musk is supervising the federal job-cutting effort known as the “department of government efficiency.”

“Ever since Elon Musk took over DOGE and became best-friend-in-chief with President Trump, Tesla — where Musk is supposed to be CEO — has suffered financially, causing enormous losses for Tesla shareholders,” Lander said in a news release April 1.

Those shareholders include the five New York City pension funds, for which Lander is custodian. Their aggregate value of Tesla common stock fell to $831 million on March 28 vs. $1.3 billion on Dec. 31. Total pension system assets are $284.3 billion.

SEC continuing $150 million lawsuit against Elon Musk over Twitter purchase

The Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing its $150 million lawsuit against Elon Musk that was brought during the Biden administration.

According to a court filing Monday, the tech billionaire and head of the Department of Government Efficiency has agreed to respond to the suit, which accuses him of misleading investors when he bought millions of dollars in Twitter stock in 2022, prior to his acquisition of the company.

The SEC brought the case against Musk on Jan. 14 in the waning days of the Biden administration, and a representative of the SEC served Musk with the complaint and a summons earlier this month — though Musk contests the validity of the service.

Under the terms of the agreement, Musk’s lawyers will file a response to the complaint by June 6, pending approval from the court.