Broker in NFL Loan Scam Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Sure Sports, the loan broker at the center of the stranger-than-fiction NFL player loan scam, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday.

Sure Sports arranged at least three loans in 2023 and 2024 totaling $11.7 million to who it thought were NFL players Michael Penix Jr., Xavier McKinney, and David Njoku. But the “borrowers” turned out to be former Alabama lineman Luther Davis, who would appear at loan closings in disguise. (The trio of active NFL players had no role in the fraud.) Davis was arrested by the FBI in 2024 at a fake loan closing arranged by Sure Sports. He pleaded guilty earlier this year and is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3. His co-defendant, CJ Evins, was sentenced to six years in prison.

Founded in 2009 by Leon McKenzie and Joleen Matte, the firm has arranged hundreds, if not thousands, of loans to athletes. Typically the debt is in the form of bridge loans that get paid back quickly once an athlete’s contractually obligated income is paid.

Sure Sports is currently the defendant in at least two lawsuits brought by aggrieved lenders, Aliya Sports Finance Fund and All Pro Capital Funding, who both claim the loan broker did not do its due diligence on their loans made to the fake NFL players. The lenders are suing for the loan amounts; the All Pro suit also names McKenzie as a defendant. So while the Chapter 11 should stay the cases against Sure Sports, it’s unclear how the bankruptcy affects the claim against McKenzie. He has filed for the case against him to be dismissed.

According to the Chapter 11 filing, Sure Sports has assets as well as liabilities of each between $1 million and $10 million. The filing details 50 to 99 creditors; the lenders in the NFL case are not in its top 20 unsecured creditors, though they are listed in the creditor matrix.

The top unsecured creditor is a lender of a pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for $175,485.33. There is no list of secured creditors disclosed. 

Chapter 11 cases are designed to allow a debtor to reorganize its business while walking away from liabilities. And Sure Sports is showing no signs it is slowing down; on the same day the company filed Chapter 11, Sportico detailed its plans for loans to MLB players in case there is an extended lockout next year.

In March, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia filed a criminal information (CI) document against Evins and Davis, charging they “obtained at least thirteen fraudulent loans totaling more than $19,845,000.” 

The CI contained details of the three Sure Sports brokered loans.

Darren Heitner, a lawyer for Sure Sports, declined to comment; he is also listed as a creditor. A lawyer for Aliya did not immediately reply for comment, nor did one for All Pro Capital, the lender to the fake Penix. Aliya lent to the fake McKinney and Njoku. Farmers Bank & Trust made another fake Njoku loan that Sure Sports also brokered. The bank is suing its insurer, Berkley Insurance, not Sure Sports.