Ex-Suns ticket executive gets 1 year in jail in fraud scheme

PHOENIX (AP) — A former Phoenix Suns ticket office executive has been sentenced to one year in jail and three years of supervised probation in connection with a fraud scheme.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office said Jeffrey Allen Marcussen used his position with the team to sell unused Suns tickets on a third-party vendor site for his own profit.

Marcussen, who worked for the NBA team for more than 15 years before his resignation, was found guilty of selling tickets for his own profit between August 2017 and February 2019.

He was charged with one count of fraud schemes and artifices, one count of theft and two counts of false return in September 2020 and pleaded guilty in the case six months ago.

Authorities said Marcussen received more than $458,000 from the tickets that were sold.

They said he has fully repaid the Suns and paid the nearly $12,000 owed to the Arizona Department of Revenue for his 2017 and 2018 taxes.