Mo Money, Mo Problems: Athletes Who Lost It All

Vince Young and others who fell on hard times.

The Buck Stops Here - More money does not guarantee a lifetime of happiness. Athletes seem especially prone to financial trouble, as proved by dozens of stars who have filed for bankruptcy over the years. “It’s a legal opportunity for them to restructure their debt. In any event, it’s evidence of a failed financial plan,” says Leo Tucker, a managing partner at Northwestern Mutual, a financial planning agency that specializes in long-term investments among other services. Keep reading to find out how 11 superstars struck it rich and then began to lose it. —Britt Middleton and Dominique Zonyéé (@DominiqueZonyee)(Photo: Diane Macdonald/Getty Images)

1 / 13

The Buck Stops Here - More money does not guarantee a lifetime of happiness. Athletes seem especially prone to financial trouble, as proved by dozens of stars who have filed for bankruptcy over the years. “It’s a legal opportunity for them to restructure their debt. In any event, it’s evidence of a failed financial plan,” says Leo Tucker, a managing partner at Northwestern Mutual, a financial planning agency that specializes in long-term investments among other services. Keep reading to find out how 11 superstars struck it rich and then began to lose it. —Britt Middleton and Dominique Zonyéé (@DominiqueZonyee)(Photo: Diane Macdonald/Getty Images)

Vince Young - Vince Young may have made more than $34 million as an NFL QB, but due to bad investments and overspending he is apparently broke now. Young filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston in January stating that his assets are worth between $500,001 and $1 million with liabilities between $1,001,000 and $10 million. He is also facing two lawsuits for a loan taken out during the 2011 NFL lockout.(Photo: CSM/Landov)

2 / 13

Vince Young - Vince Young may have made more than $34 million as an NFL QB, but due to bad investments and overspending he is apparently broke now. Young filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston in January stating that his assets are worth between $500,001 and $1 million with liabilities between $1,001,000 and $10 million. He is also facing two lawsuits for a loan taken out during the 2011 NFL lockout.(Photo: CSM/Landov)

Jamal Lewis - Retired NFL running back Jamal Lewis recently filed court documents in Atlanta stating he owes more than $10.5 million to a long list of creditors. Lewis, who won Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens, said he is self-employed and earns $35,000 per month and has about $14.5 million in assets.  (Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images) 

3 / 13

Jamal Lewis - Retired NFL running back Jamal Lewis recently filed court documents in Atlanta stating he owes more than $10.5 million to a long list of creditors. Lewis, who won Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens, said he is self-employed and earns $35,000 per month and has about $14.5 million in assets.  (Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images) 

Warren Sapp - In 2004, Warren Sapp signed a $36.6 million contract with the Oakland Raiders. Today, he brings in $115, 881 in monthly income through various ventures. The former NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 filed for bankruptcy in April and owes $6.7 million to his creditors for child support and alimony payments. He reported $6.4 million in assets, which included 240 pairs of Jordan sneakers worth $6,500, but had to sell his 2002 Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for DirectTV)

4 / 13

Warren Sapp - In 2004, Warren Sapp signed a $36.6 million contract with the Oakland Raiders. Today, he brings in $115, 881 in monthly income through various ventures. The former NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999 filed for bankruptcy in April and owes $6.7 million to his creditors for child support and alimony payments. He reported $6.4 million in assets, which included 240 pairs of Jordan sneakers worth $6,500, but had to sell his 2002 Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for DirectTV)

Lattrell Sprewell - Lattrell Sprewell earned a whopping $14.6 million a year during his NBA career and famously turned down a $21 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2005. After that career flub, Sprewell didn’t get picked up by another team and had to sell off assets, including a $5.4 million house and $1.5 million yacht. Additionally, the former basketball player’s ex-girlfriend sued him for $200 million for child support.(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

5 / 13

Lattrell Sprewell - Lattrell Sprewell earned a whopping $14.6 million a year during his NBA career and famously turned down a $21 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2005. After that career flub, Sprewell didn’t get picked up by another team and had to sell off assets, including a $5.4 million house and $1.5 million yacht. Additionally, the former basketball player’s ex-girlfriend sued him for $200 million for child support.(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

ADVERTISEMENT
Sheryl Swoopes: March 25 - The WNBA legend turns 43 years old this week. (Photo: Chuck Myers/MCT) Chuck Myers/ MCT /LANDOV

6 / 13

Sheryl Swoopes - Sheryl Swoopes won three gold Olympic medals (1996, 2000, 2004) and blazed a trail in the WNBA during her time with the Houston Comets, Seattle Storm and the Tulsa Shock. When she filed for bankruptcy in 2004, she reportedly owed nearly $75,000, citing mismanagement by her agents and lawyers. “Sometimes these teams are unequipped and don’t have the credentials a planner should have,” says Leo Tucker, a managing partner for Northwestern Mutual. But, he adds, it’s also up to the athlete to exercise restraint. “A successful career in sports can last long beyond the field if they can handle delayed gratification. Some of today’s earnings should be planned for tomorrow.”(Photo: Chuck Myers/MCT/Landov)

Lawrence Taylor - NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was a force to be reckoned with as a linebacker with the New York Giants, but his repeated arrests for crack cocaine and other legal woes nearly cost him his legacy — and a whole lot more. He reportedly frittered away thousands to pay for his cocaine addiction in past years (he checked himself into rehab in 1986, 1995, 1998 and 1999, and says he is presently 12 years sober). In 2009, he filed for bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure on his $605,000 home in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, for which he still owed $350,000.(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

7 / 13

Lawrence Taylor - NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was a force to be reckoned with as a linebacker with the New York Giants, but his repeated arrests for crack cocaine and other legal woes nearly cost him his legacy — and a whole lot more. He reportedly frittered away thousands to pay for his cocaine addiction in past years (he checked himself into rehab in 1986, 1995, 1998 and 1999, and says he is presently 12 years sober). In 2009, he filed for bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure on his $605,000 home in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, for which he still owed $350,000.(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Dennis Rodman - Dennis “The Worm” Rodman couldn’t wiggle free from his financial peril. Court documents filed in March 2012 revealed he owed more than $800,000 worth of child support to his third wife. “When you think of these bankruptcies, what I think about is the legacy that their family and the potential lost opportunities for kids and grandkids that having a successful career in sports should be able to provide,” says Northwestern Mutual’s Tucker.(Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

8 / 13

Dennis Rodman - Dennis “The Worm” Rodman couldn’t wiggle free from his financial peril. Court documents filed in March 2012 revealed he owed more than $800,000 worth of child support to his third wife. “When you think of these bankruptcies, what I think about is the legacy that their family and the potential lost opportunities for kids and grandkids that having a successful career in sports should be able to provide,” says Northwestern Mutual’s Tucker.(Photo: Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Marion Jones - Jones was the star of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming the first woman to claim five medals (three of them gold). However, her world quickly fell apart after it was revealed that Jones and her husband, shot-putter CJ Hunter, were part of a doping ring. After years of denying the allegations, she finally copped to steroid abuse and lying to investigators in 2007. Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison and was stripped of her five medals. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images) 

9 / 13

Marion Jones - Track and field star Marion Jones forfeited her Olympic medals and earnings after she admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs as far back as the 2000 Summer Olympics. Legal expenses over the controversy apparently drained the former Olympian: She filed court documents in 2007 that listed her assets at a mere $2,000, and reported the bank had foreclosed on her $2.5 million home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.(Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Terrell Owens - No stranger to financial troubles, this football prodigy lost not one, but two Dallas-area condos this year. Maybe now that his baby mama drama is behind him and he's back on the field with the Allen Wranglers, T.O. can inch his way back to his former lifestyle.(Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

10 / 13

Terrell Owens - In 2006, Terrell Owens signed a $25 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys. When the team didn’t renew the contract for the wide receiver in 2009, Owens’s financial health took a turn for the worse. In 2011, he claimed in court documents that he had no income, and he owed thousands of dollars to four different women for child support. Still, he said he paid $62,366 a month for various properties, despite selling all but two of his homes.(Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

ADVERTISEMENT
Chris McAlister - Things got so bad for Chris McAlister, a former cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens, that he sold three Super Bowl rings he had won during his time with the former Los Angeles Raiders, the Oakland Raiders and the New Orleans Saints, and he also was forced to move in with his parents, according to court documents filed in 2011. McAlister, who signed a $55 million deal with the Ravens in 2004, claimed he hadn’t worked since 2009 and couldn’t afford to pay $11,000 a month in child support. (Photo: Baltimore Sun/MCT/Landov)

11 / 13

Chris McAlister - Things got so bad for Chris McAlister, a former cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens, that he sold three Super Bowl rings he had won during his time with the former Los Angeles Raiders, the Oakland Raiders and the New Orleans Saints, and he also was forced to move in with his parents, according to court documents filed in 2011. McAlister, who signed a $55 million deal with the Ravens in 2004, claimed he hadn’t worked since 2009 and couldn’t afford to pay $11,000 a month in child support. (Photo: Baltimore Sun/MCT/Landov)

Mike Tyson on trying his hand at playing Othello:  - "Anything you give me time to prepare, I can do. I don’t think I am ready for [Shakespeare] yet, but I would like to try." (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

12 / 13

Mike Tyson - Mike Tyson may carry the nickname “Iron Mike,” but his financial health hasn’t been nearly as solid. It’s estimated the former heavyweight champion made between $300 million and $400 million over his lifetime, but promoter Don King and others had allegedly stolen from him over the years. In his 2003 bankruptcy filing, he claimed he owed $38.4 million to creditors.(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Kenny Anderson - Kenny Anderson played with six teams in his 14 years in the NBA and reportedly earned $63 million. In his 2005 bankruptcy filing, the point guard attributed his financial issues to poor spending habits (including an estimated $10,000 a month earmarked for entertainment) and loaning thousands of dollars to friends and family. Nearly half of his assets also went by way of divorce settlements and child support (Photo: Miami Herald/MCT/Landov)

13 / 13

Kenny Anderson - Kenny Anderson played with six teams in his 14 years in the NBA and reportedly earned $63 million. In his 2005 bankruptcy filing, the point guard attributed his financial issues to poor spending habits (including an estimated $10,000 a month earmarked for entertainment) and loaning thousands of dollars to friends and family. Nearly half of his assets also went by way of divorce settlements and child support (Photo: Miami Herald/MCT/Landov)