Ex-NFL star Clinton Portis to repay casino $190K in debt | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Ex-NFL star Clinton Portis to repay casino $190K in debt

FILE – In this Sept. 27, 2009, file photo, Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis looks on during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, in Detroit. Former NFL star Clinton Portis has reached an agreement to repay $190,000 he owes a New Jersey casino. Under a deal reached last week, he will pay the Borgata casino 10 percent of any income he receives above $30,000 through August 2021. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Former NFL star Clinton Portis has reached an agreement to repay $190,000 he owes a New Jersey casino.

The former running back with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos was given $200,000 in credit in 2011 to gamble at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City. But he didn't have sufficient funds to cover the debt, and six checks he signed to the casino bounced.

Portis retired in 2012 after rushing for just under 10,000 yards and scoring 75 touchdowns between 2002 and 2010.

Under a deal reached last week in Florida bankruptcy court, he will pay the Borgata 10 per cent of any income he receives above $30,000 through August 2021.

During court proceedings, lawyers for Portis said he thought he had more than enough to cover the debt. He anticipated $8 million from his NFL contract, but it ended when he was cut from the Redskins a month later.

"At that time, in January of 2011, my client was slated to make $8 million in the coming year," Steven Silton, a lawyer for Portis, testified. "He believed that his financial situation was very, very, very solid and that there was no question that he had more than enough financial capability."

Portis had difficult contract negotiations that resulted in him being cut by the Redskins, Silton said.

"He had no reason to believe that as of that time that he wasn't going to be playing for the Redskins, or he wasn't going to be making the money that he was contractually obligated to make," Silton said.

Portis has repaid $30,000 of the $200,000 he was fronted by the casino. The remaining $170,000 balance has grown to $190,000 with interest and attorney fees.

He will have to show his tax returns to casino officials each year to verify his income.

Portis' financial difficulties have been well-documented. In the court proceeding, his lawyer said an unnamed financial adviser "absconded with upwards of $8 million dollars" worth of the player's money.

Portis told Sports Illustrated last June that he contemplated killing one of his financial advisers but was talked out of it by a friend while parked outside his office with a gun.

Several of his advisers were barred from working in the financial services industry but were not convicted of a crime.

Silton did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday, and the Borgata declined to comment.

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Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

News from © The Associated Press, 2018
The Associated Press

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