Ex-NFL Running Back Owes $5 Million In Back Taxes

How many stories have we heard about professional athletes blowing all their money? Add another to that list. Over nine seasons in the NFL, 34-year-old former running back Clinton Portis earned over $40 million playing for the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins.

Portis was perhaps known for the flamboyant costumes he’d wear when addressing the media, has filed for bankruptcy this week, saying he has debts of more than $5 million, and he doesn’t have it.

The list of Portis’ creditors includes your typical money traps like child support and gambling – he owes the MGM hotel a nice chunk of change – and some curious debtors like a former NFL sideline reporter and his mother.

“in June Portis had a debt to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas of $287,178.56, and that the IRS accused him of failing to pay $401,432.18 in federal income taxes in 2006, and $57,187.61 in federal income taxes in 2010. Portis also lists debts of $500,000 to his mother, $500,000 to Entertainment Tonight correspondent and former sideline reporter Nischelle Turner, $412,000 in “domestic support obligations” to four different women and $175,000 in car loans.

Portis’s failed business ventures have included sinking $8 million into a casino that went belly-up, and putting $2 million into a “wealth management” firm that was later described as a Ponzi scheme.

Athletes going broke and how they can better manage their money is a topic I cover in my book, PostGame Pass: access into “the life.” Available now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.