The bankruptcy case of Colorado football safety Shilo Sanders is now mired in a fight over Sanders’ efforts to keep some of his financial information private even as he tries to free himself from more than $11 million in debt in a public bankruptcy court.
Sanders, son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, owes virtually all of that debt to one man: John Darjean, a former security guard at his school in Dallas. On Thursday, Darjean’s attorneys blasted a recent request from Shilo’s attorney for a protective order – a proposal that would prevent certain discovery evidence in the case from being publicly disseminated or included in public court filings. Darjean’s attorneys said it was overbroad and would turn the case into an “unworkable tangled ball of chaos.”
But Sanders’ attorney is trying to protect his privacy interests and cited his bank statements as an example.
“If a party were to disseminate this information to media outlets or on social media, this would result in every member of the general public having access to where the Debtor (Sanders) makes mundane purchases, preventing the Debtor from having even a shred of privacy in his day-to-day transactions,” said the motion from Sanders’ attorney, Keri Riley.
In response, Darjean’s attorneys called Shilo’s proposed protective order “oppressive and one-sided.” They want the judge to at least narrow it.
“The assertion in the Motion that someone might discover the places that the Debtor frequents by disclosures in this case is absurd, especially when the Debtor is a very public person with an extensive social media presence continually maintained by himself and his family, in which presence the Debtor never ceases to flaunt his wealth and whereabouts,” said the filing this week from Darjean’s attorneys. “For example, on January 7, 2025, Shilo posted on his Instagram page his presence at the Wynn Casino Las Vegas, flaunting his high-end shopping spree.”
Shilo, 25, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2023. He is seeking a discharge of his debt so he can get a ‘fresh start.’
What is Shilo Sanders’ position on this issue?
His attorney wrote he could lose the trust of business partners and be harmed if certain information of his became public, such as private details of his name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. They want such sensitive information restricted only to a small number of authorized people in the case with no public sharing of it, including in court proceedings. But the judge in the case, Michael E. Romero, reminded Shilo’s attorney last month that Shilo’s case is a “public record.”
It’s part of the bargain when filing for bankruptcy: If you’re going to a public taxpayer-funded bankruptcy court to try to erase your debt, that process generally will be public and transparent to ensure fairness and confidence in the system. Certain exceptions can be made for some sensitive information. In this case, the judge soon will have to decide how much of it will be shielded by a protective order.
The issue is critical before it goes into a deeper dive by the bankruptcy trustee, who is in charge of rounding up non-exempt assets from Shilo to sell and divide among his creditors. The attorney for the trustee also filed an objection to Sanders’ proposed protective order Wednesday, saying it “goes too far.”
“The Debtor’s Protective Order also would improperly impose burdens on the Trustee and creditor John Darjean when making (public) court filings that include information (designated) as confidential by the Debtor,” said the objection from the trustee’s attorney.
‘Unworkable tangled ball of chaos’
Darjean wants to collect on the full amount he’s owed and is fighting the case on multiple fronts. His attorneys are pushing for a full and accurate round-up of Shilo’s assets to collect for the debt and also have filed two complaints that seek to prevent the debt from being discharged at all. The debt stems from a default judgment that was entered against Sanders in a Texas court in 2022 after Darjean sued Sanders and accused him of severely injuring him at his school in 2015, when Shilo was 15. Sanders claimed he acted in self-defense but didn’t show up for the trial, leading to the default judgement against him of $11.89 million.
Sanders’ attorney has proposed a protective order in which discovery evidence, including deposition or other testimony, may be designated as confidential if the designating attorney has a ‘good faith belief that it contains non-public, confidential information.’
Darjean’s attorneys said Sanders hasn’t shown good cause for his proposed protective order and noted he ‘voluntarily chose bankruptcy, a public forum and public process.’
“Rubber-stamping the Debtor’s proposed protective order will leave the discovery process and use of materials in future hearings and trial in an unworkable tangled ball of chaos requiring large amounts of this limited judicial resources to attempt to untangle,” said the filing submitted Thursday by Darjean’s attorney, Ori Raphael.
Sanders finished his final college season at Colorado in December and is seeking a career in the NFL. If the court determines his debt should not be discharged, his future earnings could be subject to debt collection by Darjean. If his debt is discharged, Darjean would collect a much smaller amount from the non-exempt assets gathered by the trustee.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated to include video.)