Las Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner and his wife Donya filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Nevada before the New Year, according to SinBin Vegas.
Lehner estimates his assets to be worth between $1-10 million while his liability to creditors is between $10-50 million, according to the public filing.
What’s raising eyebrows is one of the main causes for Lehner’s financial trouble: his ownership of RL Exotics LLC, a rare and exotic snake and reptile farm in Missouri.
Back in 2017, Lehner bought a collection of snakes for $1.2 million from world-renowned reptile breeder Ben Renick, setting up a payment plan with quarterly instalments of $200,000.
According to Missouri-based news station KMIZ, a lawsuit was filed in 2018 after Renick’s wife murdered him and Lehner stopped issuing payments for the snakes. Lehner then countersued, claiming that maintenance costs and uncontrolled breeding amongst snakes lowered their value.
As the legal battle continued, the company later claimed that Lehner “stole a collection of anacondas [from] Renick Reptiles’ place of business (as well as taking the collection of ball pythons that Lehner refused to pay for).” The suit 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 have all been officially listed as parties interested in the Lehners’ bankruptcy.
Sure Sports Lending is an agency that specializes “in low-interest, unsecured loans and contract advances to Professional Athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLS based on their player contracts.” They are no strangers to controversy, having also been involved in Evander Kane’s bankruptcy filing in 2021.
Lehner is expected to miss the remainder of the 2022-23 season after undergoing hip surgery during the offseason. The 31-year-old has two years remaining on his contract, which carries a cap hit of $5 million annually.
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