Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is being called to testify as a witness at his son Shilo’s bankruptcy trial during the same week his team opens the season at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3, according to a pretrial conference in the case Aug. 14.
Shilo Sanders filed for bankruptcy in 2023 with more than $11 million in debt. The bankruptcy trial in Denver is scheduled to begin Aug. 31 and last approximately five days through Sept. 4.
The judge in the case, Michael E. Romero, brought it up at the pretrial conference.
“I noticed Deion was subpoenaed,” Judge Romero said.
LATEST NEWS: Unsealed records show Shilo Sanders plans family-drama defense in bankruptcy trial
The judge noted the conflict with Colorado’s season opener and said he wouldn’t be surprised if Deion Sanders tried to fight the subpoena to testify at the trial.
“I’m also concerned there’s a game: CU’s first game is that same week,” Judge Romero said on the Zoom conference, which also was attended by USA TODAY Sports. “So I can see that coming. I am not a CU alum or I have no ties to CU. So I don’t care. But I’m just recognizing that is a potential issue.”
It’s not clear if Deion Sanders was officially served the subpoena to testify yet at the request of the plaintiff's attorney in the case. There’s no record of it on the court docket. It’s also not clear if he will try to quash it or how he will resolve the scheduling conflict. In the meantime, it serves as a jarring reminder about how his son’s legal trouble has dogged him for nearly 11 years and this time could interfere with his job.
Shilo Sanders, a former Colorado football player, owes almost all of his debt to a former security guard at his school in Dallas, John Darjean.
That debt stems from a disputed incident between Darjean and Shilo Sanders in 2015, when Sanders was 15 years old. Darjean claimed Sanders assaulted him at school and caused him permanent injuries then when he tried to confiscate his phone at Deion Sanders’ direction. Darjean then sued and won a $11.89 million default judgment against Shilo Sanders in Texas in 2022.
The University of Colorado didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment, nor did an attorney for the Sanders family.
Why is Deion Sanders being called to testify?
His son is trying to free himself of the debt in bankruptcy court, but he won’t be allowed to if the judge determines the debt stems from a “willful and malicious injury.” On the other hand, if the judge determines he instead acted out of self-defense, as Shilo Sanders has claimed, then he could get out of the debt. That’s what this trial is about.
And that’s where Deion Sanders fits into it in his role as father on the day of the incident, Sept. 17, 2015. He did not witness the incident itself. But Darjean has said he tried to confiscate Shilo Sanders’ phone that day at Deion Sanders’ request when the Sanders family was embroiled in acrimonious relations between Deion Sanders and Shilo Sanders’ mother Pilar.
Darjean said his attempt to confiscate Shilo Sanders’ phone led Shilo to punch him and swing a roundhouse elbow into his neck area, aggravating a previous spinal injury.
The judge noted in the pretrial conference that Deion Sanders was alleged to have been on the phone with Darjean shortly before the incident that day.
“That conversation may be relevant,” Judge Romero said.
The judge then asked the attorney for Darjean, the plaintiff, what he intends to ask Deion Sanders at trial.
Darjean's attorney, Ori Raphael, referenced “previous incidents that made Shilo afraid.” He also referenced plans by Shilo Sanders’ attorney to argue that Shilo Sanders feared losing his phone because it would cut off contact with his mother. Deion Sanders didn’t want him talking his mother, according to court records.
“It connects the dots completely,” Raphael said at the pretrial conference.
According to court records, Deion Sanders initially believed Darjean’s version of events before changing his mind. Court records show Shilo Sanders was taken to a juvenile detention center a day later after a separate incident not involving Darjean. Darjean was taken to the hospital after the incident.
Why Shilo Sanders owes more than $11 million to John Darjean
Darjean sued Shilo Sanders and his parents in 2016, seeking damages for his injuries, which he says has included spinal problems and incontinence. But by early 2019, both parents were dropped from the case, leaving Shilo Sanders as the sole remaining defendant at age 19. Shilo Sanders then dismissed his attorneys in the case in 2020, saying he was unwilling or unable to continue paying them, according to court documents filed by his former attorneys.
This decision proved to be costly in 2022, when the case finally went to trial. Without an attorney to keep him updated on the case, Shilo Sanders didn’t show up for that trial in Dallas when Darjean presented evidence to a judge. Sanders lost the trial as a result and was hit with the $11.89 million default judgment owed to Darjean.
What is this bankruptcy trial about?
Shilo Sanders filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2023 in an effort to discharge that debt and get a “fresh start.” The issue is whether he will be allowed to by Judge Romero. Darjean is fighting to collect every cent he is owed and has sued Sanders in bankruptcy court to prevent him from discharging the debt, arguing that it is not allowed under the law because it stems from a “willful and malicious” injury.
Sanders has argued it was self-defense, not willful and malicious, and therefore he believes he is entitled to discharge his debt. Each side will try to prove its case on this issue at the coming trial with more than $11 million at stake.
Deion Sanders previously characterized Darjean as a “grifter” who is out for money. Deion Sanders also is believed to have been helping fund his son’s legal defense in this long-running case as the primary breadwinner in the family.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders subpoenaed for son's bankruptcy trial — same week of Colorado opener