The trial will determine if Shilo Sanders can discharge an $11.89 million debt owed to a security guard he allegedly injured in 2015.
The key issue is whether Sanders inflicted a ‘willful and malicious’ injury, which would prevent the debt from being erased.
Sanders filed for bankruptcy after a default judgment was issued against him when he failed to appear for a 2022 trial.
A federal bankruptcy judge has set an Aug. 31 trial date to determine if former Colorado football player Shilo Sanders will be able to get out of more than $11 million in debt, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Judge Michael Romero set the date this week in Denver, more than two years after Sanders filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The trial is estimated to last five days and will focus on one particular dispute:
Did Sanders, son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, inflict a “willful and malicious” injury on a security guard at his school in Dallas in 2015?
The answer to that question has high stakes. If the court determines the answer is yes, then Shilo Sanders will remain on the hook for the $11.89 million default judgment that he still owes to the security guard, John Darjean.
If the court determines the answer is no, then Sanders could discharge that debt and get out of the bankruptcy process with relatively little damage to his bank account.
Why is Shilo Sanders in bankruptcy?
Darjean sued Sanders in 2016, alleging he suffered severe and permanent injuries, including incontinence, when Sanders punched and elbowed him in the neck area when Sanders was 15. Sanders has claimed he acted in self-defense. Darjean said he was trying to confiscate Sanders’ phone as part of his job at the school.
Darjean was taken to the hospital that day. Sanders was taken to a juvenile detention center the next day after a separate incident, according to court records.
Darjean also sued Sanders’ parents for alleged negligence. But both Deion Sanders and Shilo Sanders’ mother Pilar were dismissed from the case by early 2019, leaving Shilo Sanders as the lone remaining defendant when he went off to college at South Carolina at age 19.
Sanders then dropped his attorneys and didn’t show up for the trial in 2022, when Darjean presented evidence to the court. The judge in that case issued an $11.89 million default judgment against Sanders as a result.
Sanders filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 after Darjean moved to collect on that debt. By doing so, Sanders’ goal is to get a “fresh start,” free from that debt.
What will the Shilo Sanders trial be about?
Bankruptcy law provides exceptions for when a debtor can get out of debt. One exception is if the debt stems from a “willful and malicious” injury.
Darjean wants to collect every penny owed to him from that judgment and is alleging that his injuries do in fact stem from a willful and malicious injury from Sanders. He is fighting to prevent the debt from being discharged so that he eventually can try to collect on it again.
His attorney, Ori Raphael, told the judge that they will make their case over three days at the trial.
But if Sanders’ attorneys can raise doubt about that by claiming Sanders acted in self-defense, Sanders could win and discharge that massive debt.
The trial will be pivotal. Other parts of his bankruptcy case remain pending in the meantime, including a separate complaint from Darjean.
What is Shilo Sanders doing now?
Sanders, now 26, said in a recent YouTube video that he had moved to Miami and was considering acting classes after getting out of football. He also recently appeared at a fashion modeling show in Paris with his brother Shedeur Sanders. He earned a master’s degree from Colorado in May after going undrafted in the NFL draft last year. He was waived by the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the 2025 season.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
