Arizona Restaurateur and Murder Suspect Accused of Stealing $5.6M

Posted on: December 2, 2024, 07:11h. 

Last updated on: December 2, 2024, 10:00h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

An Arizona restaurateur currently awaiting trial for the brutal murder of a teenager whose body was set alight in the Tonto National Forest has been indicted for stealing millions of dollars and gambling with the proceeds.

Anthonie Ruinard Jr, Parker League, Legacy Investors Group
A mugshot of Anthonie Ruinard Jr, above. He was languishing in a jail cell awaiting trial for the murder of Parker League when he was indicted on 19 counts of wire fraud and transactional money laundering (Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

Anthonie Ruinard Jr., 39, was arrested in July 2023 as a suspect in the murder of 18-year-old Parker League. League’s body was found “dismembered, stabbed, and burned beyond recognition” in a desert area just outside Apache Junction, Ariz. on June 11, 2023.

Classic Ponzi

Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Ruinard for swindling at least 54 investors in his fake business, Legacy Investors Group, Inc., out of $5.6 million.

Ruinard posed as a successful investor worth over $470 million. He promised victims his shrewd speculation in venture capital, private equity, and real estate would earn a 5% to 6% ROI per month, according to the indictment.

But while some early investors did receive payments, others lost everything in the manner of a classic Ponzi scheme. Ruinard blew the money on casino gambling and luxury vehicles, including an armored car worth $344K according to federal prosecutors.

Bank Cards Stolen

In the murder case, Ruinard was detained when he began using the victim’s bank cards after his death. League had been visiting friends in Arizona from his home in Nebraska when he had the misfortune to encounter Ruinard at a nightclub in Phoenix.

Security video from June 11 showed League and his suspected murderer leaving a gas station in Chandler, Ariz. together. It was the last time League was seen alive. His family reported him missing when he didn’t catch his flight home, the day his body was discovered.

Police searched Ruinard’s car and found traces of the victim’s blood and DNA. He was charged with drug possession, weapon possession, theft, murder, and concealment of a body.

Those charges were dismissed after he was indicted by a federal grand jury in March for murder and concealment. He faces 19 counts of wire fraud and transactional money laundering in the latest grand jury indictment.

Restaurant Fire

Ruinard was the former owner of the Pastiche Modern Eatery in Tuscon, a restaurant that offered Modern American cuisine and live jazz until employees quit en masse when paychecks started bouncing. Shortly after, a fire caused extensive damage to the restaurant, and it never reopened.

Ruinard has an extensive criminal history that includes armed robbery, theft, a bomb threat to a school, and animal cruelty.