Las Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner and his wife, Donya, have filed for bankruptcy in Nevada before the New Year, according to SinBin Vegas.
Lehner estimates his assets to be between $1 million and $10 million, while his liability to creditors is between $10 million and $50 million, according to public filings.
What raises eyebrows is one of the main reasons for Lehner’s financial difficulties. its owner to RL Exotics LLC, a rare and exotic snake and reptile farm in Missouri.
Back in 2017, Lehner bought a $1.2 million snake collection from world-renowned reptile breeder Ben Roenick, setting up a payment plan of $200,000 quarterly.
According to Missouri news station KMIZ, a lawsuit was filed by Renick Reptiles in 2018 after Renick’s wife killed him and Lehner stopped paying for the snakes. Charles Tull, a Missouri businessman, has taken over Ben Renick’s estate and is listed as the registered owner of Renick Reptiles. Lehner then countered, arguing that the cost of maintenance and uncontrolled breeding of snakes reduced their value.
As the legal battle continued, the company later announced that Lehner had “stolen a collection of anacondas [from] Renick Reptiles place of business (as well as picking up a collection of ball pythons Lehner refused to pay for). The lawsuit was settled in November 2019, and RL Exotics LLC has been operating ever since.
The Golden Knights, along with Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, the National Hockey League, Newport Sports Management and Sure Sports Lending, are officially listed as interested parties in the Lehners’ bankruptcy.
Sure Sports Lending is an agency that specializes in “low interest, unsecured loans and contract advances for NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL and MLS professional athletes based on their player contracts.” They are no strangers to controversy, having also been involved in Evander Kane’s bankruptcy case in 2021.
Lehner is expected to miss the rest of the 2022-23 season after undergoing offseason hip surgery. The 31-year-old has two years left on his $5 million-a-year contract.
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