Colorado football security Shilo Sanders has faced legal questions over his income and personal wealth after filing for bankruptcy last October with debts of more than $11 million, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
The debt stems primarily from what a Texas court says he owes a security guard at his old school — a man who claimed Sanders attacked him in 2015 and caused him serious and permanent injuries, including “neurological injuries and spinal damage.” cervical”. ” The security guard, John Darjean, sued Sanders for damages caused by this incident and won a $12 million judgment against him after Sanders failed to appear at his trial in 2022.
Sanders, the son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, filed for bankruptcy in an effort to pay off the debt. But Darjean is still trying to collect his judgment against Sanders and has raised questions in court about Shilo Sanders’ earnings from name, image and likeness (NIL) offerings at the Faculty.
“Shilo is the honest but unhappy debtor seeking to start over in life, free from the oppressive burden of his debts, including Plaintiff’s default judgment,” Shilo Sanders’ attorney wrote in a court filing in February.
The University of Colorado declined to comment and said Shilo and Deion Sanders also declined to comment.
What happened in 2015?
The incident in question was also the subject of a report on Friday by Westword in Denver. It happened when Sanders was 15 years old and attending Focus Learning Center in Dallas, where Darjean worked as a security guard, according to court records. Darjean said in his lawsuit that Sanders was using a cell phone on school property during school hours when he was told not to do so. Darjean said Sanders physically assaulted him after Sanders refused his requests to hand over his phone.
A court in Dallas County essentially accepted Darjean’s version of events without Shilo Sanders being there to dispute it.
“The Court concludes that Shilo Sanders’ actions were the proximate cause of John Darjean’s injuries/damage,” said the final ruling signed by a Dallas County judge in May 2022. “The Court further concludes that Shio’s actions Sanders were a substantial factor in bringing about the physical and mental injuries suffered by John Darjean, without which such injuries and damages would not have occurred.”
But Sanders disputed Darjean’s account in subsequent court filings. He said Darjean “cornered” him when he was talking to his mother on the phone. His lawyer included witness statements in support of Sanders in a court case.
“What I saw was that the student didn’t want to give (Darjean) his phone number, so (Darjean) kept asking,” one of the witness statements said. “Then (Darjean) reached out and (Shilo) pushed the adult and (Darjean) started pushing him and choking him. (Shilo) was screaming, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and he was crying and screaming; and it was then that the adults came and pulled (Darjean) from (Shilo).
Why did Shilo Sanders lose the court case?
He did not attend the trial, which led to a default judgment against him. His lawyer said in court documents that he had no knowledge of the lawsuit. The notifications did not reach him or were sent to the wrong address, according to the records.
“In March 2022, a trial was convened in State Court without Shilo’s knowledge or involvement: his lawyer explained in court documents. “Following the State Court’s summons for trial, a judgment form was filed by Plaintiff and his workers’ compensation insurer and was filed by the State Court without any additional notice, knowledge, or opportunity to present a defense for Shilo, including the existence of substantial pre-existing injuries resulting from the Claimant’s previous career as a (professional) baseball player. The total value of the judgment was over $11.8 million.”
What is happening in the case now?
Darjean is contesting the bankruptcy case filed by Shilo Sanders. He wants to get what the court says he is owed and has raised questions about where Sanders’ NIL money is going.
The bankruptcy filing in October said Sanders was $11.3 million in debt, including the court judgment against him. He also said Sanders had $478,000 in assets, including a 2023 Mercedes valued at $75,900 and necklaces valued at $75,000. Her lawyer then changed the value of her assets in December to about $320,000 and removed the necklaces from the list, saying they were on loan under an NIL agreement with Saki Diamonds.
Darjean alleged that Sanders transferred NIL business to his company, Big 21, LLC, as a way to keep it out of his reach. But Sanders’ lawyer said he did nothing wrong with it.
Sanders testified at a meeting of creditors that “all NIL agreements were with his company, Big 21, LLC, and all funds from those agreements passed through the accounts of Big 21, LLC,” Sanders’ attorney said in a court filing. “As owner of the company, the Debtor (Sanders) received resources from the company, but the simple fact of receiving resources from the company does not generate a transfer.”
Sanders’ attorney also stated that Sanders “took no action to hide, transfer, destroy or mutilate assets, either before or after the date of the petition, and went so far as to voluntarily move more than $210,000 to the (bankruptcy) Trustee without waiting for a new order from the Bankruptcy Court, or even a rotation stipulation.”
Sanders, now 24, is entering his final college season at Colorado and was the team’s leading tackler in 2023. His bankruptcy filing said he had gross income of $193,713 in 2023 at the time of the bankruptcy filing, in October. In 2021, when he played at Jackson State, he said he had a gross income of $216,950.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Deion Sanders’ son Shilo faces legal confusion after filing for bankruptcy
