Former Suns ticket manager sentenced in fraud scheme

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - A former top executive for the Phoenix Suns was sentenced to one year in jail and three years supervised probation with white-collar terms for his role in an unused ticket resale scheme.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said Jeffrey Allen Marcussen unlawfully sold unused Suns tickets on a third-party ticket vendor site for his own profit between August 2017 and February 2019. Marcussen received approximately $458,218 without paying taxes on the proceeds and therefore had a tax liability to the Arizona Department of Revenue for $11,818 for his 2017 and 2018 taxes.

Marcussen has fully repaid the Suns organization $458,218 and the Arizona Department of Revenue $11,818.

In September 2020, Marcussen was charged with one count of fraud schemes and artifices, one count of theft, and two counts of false return. In April 2022, Marcussen pled guilty to fraud schemes and artifices and theft.

He was sentenced on Oct. 14, 2022.

Marcussen had worked for the organization for more than 15 years at the time of his resignation.