Court Records: Ex-Dillon Developer Used $120,000 Earmarked For Stadium To Buy Car

Days after James C. Duckett Jr. joined the effort to bring professional soccer to Hartford’s Dillon Stadium, the Somers businessman used nearly $120,000 in city funds earmarked for the stadium’s construction to buy a luxury Range Rover, court records show.

The money for the SUV came from a $200,000 check written by Mitchell Anderson of Premier Sports Management Group, which had a contract with the city to redevelop the soccer field. Anderson later signed a partnership agreement with Duckett, and soon after drafted the check.

Duckett’s lawyer, Richard Brown, said there was no impropriety on his client’s part, and that the $200,000 was legitimate compensation for Duckett’s role in attracting a professional soccer team. “The deal was that he would make his best effort to procure — to assist, rather — in the procuring of a soccer team,” Brown said. “And he was being paid for that effort.”

Brown said Duckett had no contract with the city of Hartford and is not responsible if Anderson obtained or spent city money for Dillon improperly.

But city officials, who are suing Anderson and Duckett over the stadium deal, have a different interpretation. “It appears that Duckett went on an unchecked spending spree using $200,000 of Hartford funds,” city lawyers wrote in a legal motion this week.

The $200,000 — taken from Premier Sports’ “construction account” and delivered to Deron Freeman, a Hartford lawyer who held the money for Duckett — was the first of a series of large direct and indirect transfers to Duckett and Anderson that drained Premier’s assets and left the city and a subcontractor suing to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The check to Freeman was reported by The Courant more than year ago in a series of stories on the collapse of the Dillon Stadium project. But what became of those funds was not publicly known until a new court filing showed the money was disbursed to the Range Rover dealer in Atlanta, to Freeman for work unrelated to Dillon, and to friends and business partners of Duckett. About $39,000 was transferred directly to Duckett, the records show.

Canceled checks and other financial records related to the $200,000 transfer were subpoenaed by lawyers for Hartford as part of the city’s lawsuit against Anderson, Duckett and their companies. The lawsuit alleges that Anderson and Duckett stole more than $1 million by billing the city for work that was never performed and by diverting money intended for subcontractors.

Duckett and Anderson were also indicted by a federal grand jury. Anderson pleaded guilty in February to fraud and money laundering charges and is scheduled to be sentenced in May. Duckett has pleaded not guilty and his trial is pending.

Premier Sports, founded by Anderson, had a contract with the city to redevelop Dillon Stadium into an arena that could attract a professional soccer team. After partnering with Duckett, the pair sold city officials on a $30 million to $50 million stadium they said would be financed almost entirely with private money. The city canceled the deal after The Courant revealed irregularities in the project’s financing as well as Duckett’s past conviction for embezzlement.

The newly disclosed records show that Anderson wrote a check to Freeman, the Hartford lawyer, on March 27, 2015 — and that same day Freeman wired $119,990 to The Motorcar Collection, a dealer in Atlanta that specializes in high-end vehicles. In the court filings, city lawyers say the money was used to buy a “special edition Range Rover.” Internet archives show that the Atlanta company dealership in March 2015 was selling a used “Autobiography Edition” Range Rover in Santorini Black Metallic for $119,990. That car has since been sold at least twice.

Freeman said he held the money for Duckett, and disbursed it at Duckett’s direction, “basically as a convenience.”

Of the remaining money, the records show that $10,000 was used to settle a lawsuit filed against Duckett by a neighbor, and $6,000 was paid to Freeman for his representation in that case. Freeman also sent a $10,000 check to Anthony Camilleri, a retired Hartford police officer whose security firm has a relationship with Duckett’s private business, Black Diamond Consulting. Camilleri also received $20,000 directly from Premier Sports.

Smaller checks were written by Freeman to Mike Garbeck, who was working with Duckett on the Dillon Stadium project; Andreas Craig, a friend and business partner of Duckett’s, and Benvinda Monteiro, who provided bail money for Duckett after his indictment and who was identified in court as his fiance.

These are not the first court records to reveal that the developers used Dillon Stadium funds for personal expenses. Bank documents filed in December show that employees at Premier Sports bought Tim McGraw concert tickets, an overnight stay at a luxury seaside resort and a round of golf in New Hampshire as calls from creditors went unanswered. Banks records also show hundreds of thousands of dollars transferred from Premier’s accounts directly to Duckett, Anderson and companies they controlled.

Money in Premier Sports’ bank accounts came primarily from the city of Hartford, which provided more than $1.5 million to pay invoices submitted by Premier’s subcontractors. Those subcontractors have said they received only about a third of that money, leaving more than $1 million in city funds unaccounted for.

Source: The Hartford Courant