West Bloomfield man, 66, charged in investment fraud scheme
A West Bloomfield, Michigan, man is accused of helping to raise millions of dollars from investors for a proposed sports complex that he made little effort to pursue, instead using the funds for personal and lifestyle expenses, according to the Justice Department.
Kenneth Bardwell, 66, is charged with one count of wire fraud in the scheme, according to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Tuesday.
The court document said Bardwell and others, through their companies Motown Sports Group Holdings, Inc. and Motown Sports Real-Estate Acquisitions Lan and Development, LLC, have claimed to be developing the entertainment and youth travel sports complex in Romulus, Michigan, since 2014. They allegedly sought investments and advertised the project through a crowdfunding site, public website, paid local television news segments and billboards around Detroit.
The complaint said Bardwell represented to investors that their money would be used to purchase land and develop the project, but if the land could not be bought, the money would be returned to them in an escrow account. Bardwell is listed as chairman and CEO of Motown Sports Group Holdings on a crowdfunding site.
In 2024, Bardwell and others presented a plan to Romulus city officials, requesting $152 million in public bonds to pay for the proposed $1.44 billion development, according to the complaint. It was denied due to legal concerns.
Per the court document, Police in Birmingham, Michigan, and the FBI received a complaint in June 2025 from an individual who said Bardwell was orchestrating an investment fraud scheme through Motown Sports, sparking an investigation by law enforcement into the company. They allegedly gave money to Bardwell to invest in the project.
Witnesses close to the project, according to the court document, told the FBI that Motown Sports has not raised the capital needed to purchase the land for the development "and the investors have been told several times that the deal was close to closing, only to have it not happen repeatedly."
Bardwell has, instead, spent most of the investor funds on gentlemen's clubs, luxury items, rental cars and other expenses for himself and his associates, the complaint said.
According to the court document, Bardwell has held a purchase agreement for the Romulus property advertised as the future site of the proposed complex for the past seven years with a capital firm that owns the land.
"Annually, BARDWELL made a deposit of around $100,000 to hold the land which would be put towards the sale of the property once it occurred," the complaint said.
Bardwell went to the firm's office in May and provided $60,000 to extend the agreement, according to the court document. The firm then told him they would not extend the hold past June 30 and would put the property back on the market if he did not come up with the full purchase price of $28 million.
The FBI's investigation into Motown Sports is ongoing. Anyone with information about it or who has invested money with Motown Sports Group Holdings, Inc. or Bardwell is asked to fill out a short online form here.
