Shilo Sanders' bankruptcy case deadlocked with special counsel to address NIL concern

Coach Prime's son will have to answer why some of his assets weren't accounted for in court

Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Football's fall camp has just started and the main topic of conversation isn’t the first game against North Dakota State, but instead outside issues. This time Shilo Sanders' ongoing bankruptcy battle was pushed forward with the Buffs defensive back receiving a bit of bad news in court.

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the case approved a request to hire a special counsel after reaching an “impasse” with Sanders’s legal team over his income from name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, according to a court filing obtained by SI. Sanders' assets came into question after he reportedly failed to disclose at least 33 NIL deals in his bankruptcy schedule.

The request of a special counsel was filed and approved by Judge Michael Romero, who agreed the trustee needed additional help in a bankruptcy proceeding that has gotten difficult due to delays by Sanders and his attorneys. “While the Debtor (Sanders) has provided the Trustee with certain NILs, the Trustee needs to confirm he has received all of the NILs and has full information of the use of revenue generated by the NILs,” according to the filing.

Three takeaways from Shilo Sanders' bankruptcy case

The trustee is trying to unravel the winding road of chaos to retrieve NIL information to provide the court with the necessary documentation that will help or further hurt Sanders' attempt to discharge the debt.

Sanders filed for bankruptcy in October of 2023 after the default judgment was awarded to John Darjean, who filed the lawsuit against Coach Prime's middle son in 2015 when he was a security guard at Triple A Academy in Dallas, Texas. Darjean is fighting to receive $11.89 million over the alleged physical altercation that occurred while Sanders was in high school. The hope for Sanders is to discharge the matter without paying Darjean.

While there seems to be issues with Shilo Sanders' entire scope of NIL deal and the information being provided to the courts that coincides with the discoveries made concerning his true assets, Deion Sanders is confident the matter will be resolved. The Colorado Buffaloes coach went on the record by asking a reporter to research the entire case and says Shilo already "won" the case. That isn't true and the case is ongoing.

“You know what I want you to do? I want you to do this for me. I want you to do your homework and do a whole investigation on that and then write that. I mean the whole complete investigation on what truly happened," Coach Prime said.

Sanders’s lawyers said at the time that he wanted to “get a fresh start, free from the oppressive burden of his debts,” which are almost entirely owed to Darjean. Sanders, who will be playing in his final collegiate football season for the University of Colorado, has starred in numerous commercial advertisements for Google, Dannon, KFC, Louis Vutton, and others. Outside of the TV spots, he was featured in EA Sports College Football 25 and made a cameo appearance as his father on Starz hit show 'BMF'.