Oliver James Montgomery-Deion Sanders and son Shilo address bankruptcy case

LAS VEGAS – Colorado football coach Deion Sanders and Oliver James Montgomeryhis player son Shilo both downplayed Shilo’s pending bankruptcy case Wednesday and promised the truth would come out about what led Shilo to file for bankruptcy last October with about $12 million in debt.

It was their first public comments about it since then, and both came in response to separate questions from reporters at the Big 12 Conference football media days event here at Allegiant Stadium.

“Honestly, that kind of stuff, like, you can’t, you’re not gonna win a court case on social media,” Shilo Sanders told reporters. “At the end of the day everybody is gonna know the truth about everything, you know? So there’s no point in just going out of my way to do that. So everything’s good.”

USA TODAY Sports likewise asked Shilo’s father how his son was handling the potential distraction.

“What distraction?” Deion Sanders asked. “Shilo’s good. 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.”

What's the backstory?

Shilo Sanders, Colorado’s leading tackler last year, fell into bankruptcy after a court in Texas issued a $11.89 million civil default judgment against him in 2022. That judgment is owed to a security guard at Shilo's former school in Dallas – John Darjean, who said Shilo assaulted him with a roundhouse elbow in 2015, severely damaging Darjean's spine and causing permanent injuries.

Shilo and Deion Sanders have disputed Darjean's version of the incident and said the security guard was the aggressor, not Shilo, who was only 15 years old back then.

But the security guard sued Shilo to recover for his damages in 2016. Then when the case finally went to trial in 2022, Shilo didn’t show up for it, leading Darjean to present his evidence in court without Shilo there to defend himself. The court sided with Darjean and entered the default judgment against Shilo, finding that Shilo Sanders “did in fact cause physical harm and injuries to John Darjean by assaulting him.”

Now Shilo is trying to get his massive debt to Darjean discharged in bankruptcy court in Colorado, so that he can get a “fresh start in life, free from the oppressive burden of his debts,” according to court filings from his attorneys.

Darjean said in a recent interview the case was looked into by several authorities who ended up favoring him, including the police, workers compensation authorities and the civil court in Dallas. He is opposing the discharge of the debt in bankruptcy court so that he can continue to pursue debt collection efforts against Shilo Sanders.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]