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Colorado Buffaloes defensive back Shilo Sanders (seen above walking the runway for Louis Vuitton Menswear at Paris Fashion Week), owes $11.89 million to a former school security guard named John Darjean.
The reason for the debt is because when Shilo Sanders was 15-years-old he assaulted Darjean while he was working as a security guard at Sanders’ school in Dallas, leaving him with permanent injuries.
Darjean then sued Deion Sanders’ now 24-year-old son in 2016 and when the case went to trial in 2022 Shilo just flat didn’t show up to court.
Therefore, Darjean won the lawsuit by default judgment and Shilo Sanders has owed him that $11.89 million ever since.
In an effort to try and get out of paying Darjean, USA Today reports, Sanders filed for bankruptcy last October. Darjean, in return, filed a complaint against Sanders to prevent the bankruptcy court from relieving him of that debt, claiming that Sanders is using several limited liability corporations to improperly conceal assets from his numerous name, image and likeness (NIL) deals (many of which Sanders has boldly flaunted on social media).
Last week, Federal Judge Michael Romero ruled against Shilo Sanders’ attempt to dismiss Darjean’s complaint.
“The Complaint contains sufficient allegations that Sanders’s companies function as his alter egos and that the corporate veils of the LLCs should be pierced,” Romero wrote in his ruling.
He also noted that Darjean’s attorneys have alleged that “Sanders’s wholly-owned LLCs are his alter egos whose corporate veils should be pierced.” This means they are alleging that the companies are basically shams used to shield his assets from liability and should be “pierced” to lift that shield.
“This Court is unwilling, at this stage of the proceedings, to rule out application of the alter ego or veil piercing doctrines,” Judge Romero added.
He continued, “The Court therefore denies Sanders’s request to dismiss Darjean’s … claim purely on the basis it might involve assets owned by Sanders’s LLCs. However, the Court cautions Darjean that reverse piercing is considered an ‘extraordinary remedy’ and he faces a high burden to demonstrate all necessary factors at trial.”
The case, as it stands right now because of the judge’s ruling, will continue on to trial.