It’s heartbreaking to hear stories of foreclosure, but when it’s a celebrity foreclosure, you wonder how it can happen. Former Detroit Lions lineman Luther Elliss, 36, who was paid almost $11.6 million from 2000-04, already lost his Utah home to foreclosure and now Elliss is prepared to walk away from his Oakland Township home.
According to The Detroit News, Elliss has filed bankruptcy, his savings are gone and he is relying on area churches and friends to help him land in a safe place. Evidently, Elliss made some poor investment choices and had liabilities that included mortgage debts on two homes (one in Utah and one in the Detroit area), an office building, delinquent taxes, credit card charges, legal fees and tuition at a Christian school. The married father of 11 had this to say about his predicament:
“The Lions did a good job, they put on financial programs that we had to attend talking about investing and saving money, gave statistics on how many of us would be broke,” Elliss said. “Guys were saying, ‘It’s not going to be me, I’m too smart for that.’ And here I am, one of those guys.”
Here’s a data point that is shocking: A recent Sports Illustrated article “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke” reported that 78 percent of former NFL players will either file for bankruptcy or experience financial distress within two year of retirement and within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.
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