A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday issued a limited protective order in the bankruptcy case of Colorado football player Shilo Sanders after questioning why certain aspects of Sanders’ financial activities should be given such privacy protections, including his business deals and bank statements that might show how many times he ordered food at McDonald’s.
In a hearing in Denver on Tuesday, Judge Michael E. Romero also reminded Sanders’ attorney that Sanders voluntarily chose to file for bankruptcy in a public court in 2023 as part of his effort to free himself of more than $11 million in debt. Romero therefore questioned Sanders’ attorney why Sanders’ previous bank statements should be shielded from public view by a protective order.
“So you’re saying there’s a need for protection to find out how many times your client went to McDonald’s in 2023 − that it’s important that we protect the bank statements on that because it’s listed on his accounts?” the judge asked.
“We at least want it to not end up on social media,” said Shilo’s attorney, Keri Riley.
“Who cares how many times he goes to McDonald’s?” the judge asked. “There may be somebody interested… There may be somebody in this world who wants to know how many Big Macs he gets, but who cares?”
Sanders, 25, is the son of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders. He is hoping to be selected in the NFL draft next month, but the bankruptcy case could affect his future earnings if it doesn’t go the way he wants.
The judge ended up finding ‘good cause’ to give Sanders certain privacy protections. Among other things, Romero’s five-page protective order Wednesday says ‘designated discovery material may not be used for any other purpose’ other than that is related to the case.
What is the latest on Shilo Sanders’ bankruptcy case?
In the hearing this week, the judge was trying to determine how much privacy Sanders should be given as he tries to wipe out his debt – almost all of it owed to a man named John Darjean, a former security guard at his school in Dallas.
Sanders’ attorney had asked for a protective order in the case that would keep discovery evidence from being publicly disseminated by the parties in the case, including business deals for his name, image and likeness (NIL). They didn’t want it to end up on social media as part of a “smear campaign” against him that could affect his future earnings after bankruptcy.
But Darjean’s attorney, Ori Raphael, is fighting to collect every penny of the debt his client is owed and argued Shilo should not get “extra” privacy protection in public bankruptcy court. He wanted any protective order to be “as narrow as possible” to get the case moving.
“Nothing is special about what he’s done,” Raphael told the judge Tuesday. “Nothing makes him unique. The only thing that’s unique is he’s chose to be bankrupt and come to this court to say, `Oh I’m special, so I shouldn’t have to reveal anything I’ve done.’ You chose this path. You have to therefore accept it. Same with the people who contracted with him. It’s the risk of doing business.”
Protective order allows Shilo Sanders some privacy
The judge’s order appears to forbid social-media dissemination of designated discovery evidence unless it gets into the public court record.
Sanders’ attorney had emphasized this in the hearing Tuesday.
“We don’t want a situation where we’re producing bank statements from 2023, and now we see an Instagram post saying, `Oh look. Four times last month, instead of paying (Darjean), he went to go and get avocado toast,’” Riley told the judge. “Does anybody care? We would hope not, but this is a case that is in the public sphere already.”
The fight over Shilo’s debt
The debt stems from an incident in 2015 when Shilo was 15 and was accused of severely injuring Darjean when Darjean tried to confiscate his phone at school. Darjean sued Sanders for damages and finally went to trial in 2022, where he won a $11.89 million default judgment against Sanders in a Dallas civil court. Before the trial, Sanders claimed he acted in self-defense but didn’t show up for the trial to defend himself and now is stuck with debt from the judgment. He then filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2023, hoping he could have that debt discharged so he can get a “fresh start.” In response, Darjean filed two complaints to try to prevent that from happening.
But the case recently has been bogged down by this dispute over how much privacy Sanders should get in this public case as it starts to get deeper into discovery evidence over his finances. Generally, one of the tradeoffs of trying to get your debt erased in bankruptcy court is that you have to go through the process publicly to ensure transparency and fairness for creditors.
On Tuesday , the judge asked what harm could be caused by having discovery evidence in the case posted on social media. He said the court is not going to pay attention to what people are saying about the case there.
“Right, Your Honor, but it does impact this debtor’s ability to get his fresh start and continue to generate revenue down the road,” Riley told the judge. “As somebody who does have at least somewhat of a public presence, when this content is created that is targeting him in a negative way… it’s doing nothing more than impacting his ability to get future deals.”
What is next after this?
Romero decided on a protective order that allows for discovery evidence to be designated ‘confidential’ if the designating counsel has a good-faith belief that it contains information that is proprietary, confidential or commercially sensitive, or would invade somebody’s legitimate privacy interests. Such designations can be challenged, however.
Now that this protective order is in place, the case will proceed toward trial on different fronts. The stakes are high. If Darjean wins in his attempt to prevent Shilo’s debt from being discharged, Darjean could pursue debt collection from Shilo on the full amount in the future. But if Shilo succeeds in having his debt wiped out in court, Darjean likely only would collect a small fraction of what he’s owed.
A bankruptcy trustee has been trying to round up Shilo’s non-exempt assets to sell and divide among creditors in the meantime.
‘We’re still trying to get all of those NIL contracts, Your Honor,’ said Peter Cal, attorney for the trustee.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com