Shilo Sanders Has Reportedly Declared Bankruptcy In An Alleged Attempt To Avoid A $11.89M Lawsuit Payment From The Time He Beat Up A Security Guard In High School

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USA Today - Colorado football safety Shilo Sanders has been facing questions in court about his personal income and wealth after filing for bankruptcy last October with more than $11 million in debt, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

The debt stems primarily from what a court in Texas says he owes to a security guard at his former school − a man who claimed Sanders attacked him in 2015 and gave him severe and permanent injuries, including "neurological injuries and damage to his cervical spine." The security guard, John Darjean, sued Sanders for damages from this incident and won a $12 million judgment against him after Sanders failed to show up for trial in 2022.

Sanders, son of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, filed for bankruptcy as a result in an effort to discharge this debt. But Darjean is still trying to collect on his judgment against Sanders and has raised questions in court about Shilo Sanders’ earnings from name, image and likeness (NIL) deals in college.

I'm a bit late to the party getting caught up on this story, but I just spent a couple hours diving into the details surrounding Shilo Sanders' 2015 assault on a high school security guard. The whole thing is a mess.

When you search "Shilo Sanders bankruptcy", you get simple stories like what's copied above from USA Today. Shilo was allegedly serving an in-school suspension, the security guard tried to take his phone, Shilo Sanders elbowed him in the chest, proceeded to hit him a few more times during the altercation, and in the end the security guard was left with all these serious injuries. The video shows you basically nothing.

The Sanders' family deny these accusations. They claim that the security guard was the aggressor. That he instigated the altercation, and tried to choke out Shilo. Deion Sanders even spoke to TMZ about the incident back in 2016, long before he blew up to be the coaching celebrity he is today.

TMZ - Deion says it's all a crock … saying the allegations are completely false and the "victim" is a "real life grifter."

"This man used unnecessary force to secure my son's cell phone," Deion said in a statement to TMZ Sports.

"He consequently felt ashamed of his actions and apologized to our President and CEO, Leroy McClure, for his actions. He knew he was gonna be dismissed from his job for the way he handled this situation and others prior, consequently, he produced an injury completely UNRELATED to this incident."

"To make matters even worst, I had coached junior high baseball with this man and I never knew he saw me as a opportunity or target. I thought I was a friend and coach."

But following Sanders' claims, the security guard went through with his lawsuit. And in 2022, a Texas judge finally ruled that Shilo was to pay him $11.89 million in damages.

None of the money has been paid yet. Shilo is now filing for bankruptcy, as he's clearly set on doing whatever he possibly can so that he doesn't have to make this payment. Whether that will work out in his favor or not will be determined in bankruptcy court, which is a mess in it's own right. 

Bleacher Report - Sanders has filed a bankruptcy proceeding in an effort to avoid paying the $11.89 million figure to John Darjean, the security guard in question.

In December 2023, Shilo Sanders—the son of Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders—divulged assets worth $320,477, down from the $477,881 he showed in October 2023. Darjean's filing has suggested that Sanders hasn't divulged "vast amounts of high-end and expensive clothing" or various public NIL deals with companies like Kentucky Fried Chicken, TurboTax and Oikos yogurt, among others.

I've always been confused as to how bankruptcy works, but it really seems like you shouldn't be able to simply file for bankruptcy and completely get out of an $11.89M payment. If you owe it to a creditor that's one thing. But if you owe it to a man who you left with life-altering injuries… that kinda seems like something you shouldn't be able to get out of. But that's just me. 

Anyways, that's the current situation. But this security guard… this man is going to war with the Sanders family. His name is John Darjean. Darjean was a 6th round draft pick of the New York Yankees back in 1997. He never got the call up to the majors, but had a 5-year career bouncing around between multiple different minor league clubs (i.e. he was a bust). After he retired from baseball, he got hooked up with Deion. He ended up coaching a baseball team with him and got a security job at the high school Shilo was attending. 

Even though this Darjean guy has already won in court, he's out there making some wild claims. It's hard to say how seriously he should be taken. The altercation between him and Shilo went down nearly a decade ago, and is all he said, he said at this point. But Darjean went on friend of the program Jason Whitlock's Rumble show last month and gave his side of the story. For some fucking reason on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend, I just watched the whole 90 minute interview. Boy does this guy have beef with Deion.

I honestly don't know why this security guard is bothering with all of this at this point. He's already won. I suppose he might be worried that he'll never see his money depending on how things in bankruptcy court shake out, so he's just gonna keep firing until he's paid. Or maybe he just really wants to get his story out there. He claims that Deion is actually the one who made him try to confiscate the cell phone from Shilo in the first place. He says immediately following the altercation that he started pissing his pants uncontrollably, then went to the hospital for emergency spinal surgery. He says Deion had security footage of the altercation stolen so that it could never be used in court. He says Deion turned the whole school against him. He says as a result of going against Deion, he lost his prestigious position as Baseball Director of a program run by Steve Harvey (?). He even made a documentary called Prime Time For Truth, where he tells his story in detail, and includes some footage from Deion and Shilo's depositions (which apparently he owns).

He also keeps saying Prime Time For Truth was picked up by Amazon Prime. But I can find zero evidence of that. It's on YouTube right now and has a total of 172 views. He made the whole thing himself. I watched about 5 minutes of it. It is not well done. I can't imagine Amazon Prime would touch that with a 10-foot pole. 

But regardless, Dejean won in court in a HUGE way. The judge awarded him a massive sum, so he's obviously not lying about everything. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I can't imagine Shilo is going to be able to bankruptcy his way out of paying what he's due. Maybe the number will be cut down a bit, but it sure seems like Dejean is going to walk out of this whole thing a millionaire. So I can't say I feel too bad for the guy. 

Either way, I'm sure Shilo will be just fine. Sure, he's about $12 mil in the hole right now, but I have it on good authority that he'll be a top draft pick with a long illustrious NFL career.