A judge in a bankruptcy lawsuit filed against former Colorado football player Shilo Sandersdenied Sanders' request to dismiss a complaintalleging he violated bankruptcy law, according to USA Today.
The complaint is related to an incident in 2015, in which Sanders reportedly assaulted a security guard at Sanders' high school. That security guard, John Darjean, claimed he was left with permanent injuries from the assault, including "neurological injuries and damage to his cervical spine," per USA Today.
Darjean sued both Sanders — who was 15 years old at the time — and his parents, former NFL star Deion Sanders and wife Pilar, following the incident. Deion and Pilar were eventually dropped from the lawsuit before it went to trial in 2022.
Shilo, however, did not show up to the trial, resulting in the court entering adefault judgment against him for nearly $12 million. Shilofiled for bankruptcythe following year as a way to get out of that debt.
As a result, a trustee — David Wadsworth — was assigned to Sanders to manage his assets. Wadsworth, however, filed a complaint against Sanders last October alleging Sanders "violated bankruptcy law bymaking unauthorized transfersof approximately $250,000," per USA Today. Sanders filed to have thatsuit dismissedin November.
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But the suit filed by Wadsworth will be allowed to continue following Judge Michael Romero's ruling Wednesday, per USA Today.
In his complaint, Wadsworth alleged that the $250,000 in earnings that Sanders transferred should have been put into the bankruptcy estate, and not given to Sanders. Romero ruled that Wadsworth's argument was sound enough to allow the case to continue.
In bankruptcy cases, earnings filed before declaring bankruptcy are generally put into the bankruptcy estate. Earnings made after filing for bankruptcy typically belong to the person who filed for bankruptcy.
Wadsworth argued that some of the money Sanders made from NIL or from his businesses deserve to go into the bankruptcy estate. Romero said Wadsworth "supported his claims with sufficient factual allegations," which is why the complaint was allowed to proceed.
All of that, however, could be completely upended in August. On Tuesday, Romero set an Aug. 31 trial date to determine whether Sanders inflicted "willful and malicious" injuries to Darjean in 2015. If it is determined that Sanders did intend to hurt Darjean, his debt and bankruptcy filing will remain valid. If not, Sanders would be able to discharge the debt andget out of the bankruptcy process, per USA Today. That August ruling would presumably affect Wadsworth's complaint against Sanders.
Following his time at Colorado, Sanders went undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft. He hooked on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent, but did not make the final 53-man roster.
