Shilo Sanders bankruptcy: Deion ‘will cut his own head off’ before giving in

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Shilo Sanders, son of Deion Sanders, owes former security guard John Darjean over $11 million from a 2015 incident.Darjean claims the case could have been settled for a much smaller amount years ago, but no settlement talks have occurred.Sanders filed for bankruptcy in 2023 to discharge the debt, which Darjean is fighting in court.The man who is owed more than $11 million from Shilo Sanders said his case against Sanders could have been resolved 10 years ago for a much smaller amount but there have been no discussions to settle the case since then as it now heads to trial Aug. 31.Shilo Sanders, son of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders, filed for bankruptcy in October 2023 with more than $11 million in debt, almost all of it owed to John Darjean, a former security guard at Shilo’s former school in Dallas.Darjean, 50, told USA TODAY Sports in a recent interview he would have been open to settling his case if Deion Sanders had offered to cover some of his expenses stemming from an incident with Shilo in 2015. But both sides dug in after TMZ published a partial video of the incident in 2016, with Deion Sanders calling Darjean a “grifter” in the article that accompanied it.“I would have taken something,” Darjean said of Deion Sanders. “I was thinking Deion was man enough to say, ‘Hey, here’s $200,000. I know my son messed your neck up. You’re damaged.’”That never happened, however. Darjean is now seeking every penny he’s owed, with Shilo Sanders also showing no signs of compromise even though there’s more than $11 million at stake for him, along with rising legal costs after 10 years of fighting it.“Later on down the line, after he defamed my name, I wanted $100 million because I was that pissed off,” Darjean said of Deion Sanders.Why Shilo Sanders owes John Darjean more than $11 millionDarjean said Shilo Sanders punched him and elbowed him in the neck at school when he tried to confiscate his phone in 2015, when Shilo was 15 years old. Darjean said this severely aggravated a previous neck injury and caused him to suffer permanent injuries and pain, including incontinence and another surgery in May.Darjean sued Shilo and his parents over it in June 2016. But by early 2019, Shilo’s parents were dismissed from the case, leaving Shilo as the sole remaining defendant when he departed for his freshman year at South Carolina at age 19.Then came the trial in Dallas in March 2022. Shilo Sanders didn’t show up for it. Darjean presented his case in court instead and received a default judgment against Sanders of $11.89 million.Shilo Sanders, a former Colorado football safety, still owes that to Darjean and now is trying to get the debt removed in bankruptcy court. He seeks a “fresh start, free from the oppressive burden of his debts,” as his attorneys said.In response, Darjean is fighting Shilo’s attempt to discharge the debt, arguing the debt is not dischargeable because it stems from a “willful and malicious injury.”Why hasn’t this case against Shilo Sanders been resolved after 10 years?Both sides face huge risks at trial this summer, when the bankruptcy court will try to determine if the debt stems from a “willful and malicious injury” from Sanders. Sanders, now 26, disputes that and has claimed he acted in self-defense.If Darjean wins, Shilo would remain on the hook for that debt, which could follow him around until he pays it. If Shilo wins, he could get the debt discharged with relatively minimal damage to his bank account.A compromise settlement would reduce the risk for both. But Darjean said there have been no settlement talks with the Sanders family, whose positions are often influenced by the father as the longtime breadwinner.Darjean said the Sanders family “doesn’t want to settle” and called Deion Sanders “arrogant.”“He will cut his own damn head off before he loses,” Darjean said. “That’s the type of person he is.”The lack of settlement after so long has surprised legal experts.“It’s extraordinary to see a case like this that could have settled privately and quietly years ago,” University of Texas law professor Mechele Dickerson told USA TODAY Sports last October. “There would have been a confidentiality and likely a non-disclosure agreement. He would have avoided the hassle, embarrassment, etc. that we’re seeing now.”The TMZ video factor involving Deion SandersDarjean also dug in against the Sanders family after TMZ released the video in June 2016, which only shows part of the incident. He has accused Deion Sanders of leaking only part of the footage and arranging to delete the part that incriminated his son. In the TMZ article that accompanied the video, Deion Sanders called Darjean a “real life grifter” who used “unnecessary force to secure my son’s cellphone.”Darjean filed suit against the Sanders family four days after TMZ published that report in 2016.“I wanted everything-plus after he lied on me on TMZ,” Darjean said.Darjean said it changed his mind about taking anything less than what he could show in court.A Texas judge awarded Darjean $11.89 million in result, which included $3 million for future physical impairment, $2 million for future medical expenses and $2 million for future lost earning capacity.“I had to plead my case just like it was a regular trial,” Darjean said.Darjean’s attorney told the bankruptcy judge in 2024 the 2022 trial in Dallas included six witnesses and 76 exhibits, including 58 by the Utica insurance company. Utica insurance won a $215,000 judgment against Shilo Sanders at the same trial to recover the workers’ compensation benefits it paid on Darjean’s behalf.What are John Darjean and Shilo Sanders doing now?Darjean was taken to the hospital after the incident and soon underwent spinal surgery, according to court records. He was a minor league baseball outfielder in the New York Yankees organization and now lives in the Dominican Republic, where he said he still battles pain and mobility issues.Shilo has been pursuing other professional interests such as acting after he was waived last year by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is the third of Deion Sanders’ five children and is the older brother of Shedeur Sanders, now quarterback with the Cleveland Browns.A message seeking comment from Shilo Sanders’ attorney wasn’t returned.Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com