turd ferguson

October 4th, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^

I think it's time to leave the guy alone with this.  It's a sad, private matter, and as funny as JLS can be, this doesn't feel like the right place to poke at him.

Bodogblog

October 4th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^

Does it really matter?  He's filing bankruptcy so most of that debt will be extinguished.  Of course the 1%'ers (and you gd well know Dave Brandon was behind it) changed the bankruptcy laws a few years ago, so I could be wrong.

But really all he's doing is updating the amount owed in court documents.

orobs

October 4th, 2012 at 2:16 PM ^

How exactly does someone spend that much money?  We are talking about someone who has been probably made about 10-15 million in his lifetime too, so thats 55 million dollars.

I mean, you could buy a mansion, vacation homes, multiple luxury cars, and still be well under 20 million.  What exactly is going on here?

MLaw06

October 4th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^

It isn't too surprising...  An unsophisticated guy making significant investments, then doubling down in order to stem losses with, as it turns out, more losses.

[Amended bankruptcy filing and more detailed article below.]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2012/10/04/john-l-smith-bankruptcy-arkansas/1612345/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/johnlsmithamended.pdf

MikeCohodes

October 4th, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^

From what I've read on it, he made some real estate investments that didn't pan out.  He probably only put down a portion of the total cost of the loan, but he's still on the hook for the whole loan.  It's like a house - you buy a million dollar house with only 100k of your own money, the other 900k is a loan, but if you go bankrupt it is a 900k liability.  What he did is he did this over and over, taking out loans to buy investment properties and then the investments failed, leaving him on the hook for the whole loan that he had anticipated paying back with the profits from the investment.

He didn't blow this on cars or drugs, he just made some really poor investments and is now on the hook for them.

MLaw06

October 4th, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^

Agree.  But then again some people are addicted to speculative investing, just like they are to gambling or drugs.

Bankruptcy isn't sinful or shameful; it's merely a path out of insolvency.  That being said, in America, we don't have noble titles like Duke or Count or Viscount, but rather, we have monetary titles, such as millionaire, multi-millionaire or billionaire.

In that sense, "millionaire" or "multi-millionaire" John L. Smith will now become "bankrupt" John L. Smith. 

The one good thing is that it's not permanent, and you can go from, for example, "twice bankrupt" Donald Trump to "multi-millionaire" Donald Trump during the course of a lifetime.

MLaw06

October 4th, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^

Sorry to burst your bubble, but in many states, non-recourse mortgages will become recourse loans after a foreclosure.

For example, you buy a house for 500k (100k down and 400k mortgage).  The market tanks and you foreclose on your house.  Bank sells it for 300k.  The difference between the mortgage and what the bank recovered (i.e., 400k - 300k = 100k) is the "deficiency." 

Therefore, you may be personally liable for the 100k deficiency as a recourse loan. 

[Just my two cents and not legal advice]

Yeoman

October 4th, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^

Not that you would care much at this point. Presumably you're under water either way or you wouldn't be filing.

In a bankrtupcy i's just a question of the bank's rights vis a vis the other creditors as they divy up the financial carcass. They can get a piece of the deficiency from whatever is left to the unsecured creditors.

ijohnb

October 4th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^

seriously have never have sent out "fast field goal."  It looks like things started going down hill for him right at that specific moment.

M-Wolverine

October 4th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^

Broke 2: Coaches.

Really, even if you're not going to be paying it back, any day you find out you owe an extra $15 million can't be considered a good one.

Tater

October 4th, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^

If you are going to be a screw-up, you might as well be a major screw-up.  Anyone can file bankruptcy, but it takes a world class idiot to get to $40 million in the hole.  

Congrats to JLS for finally finding something at which he is among the elite.

Don

October 4th, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^

Leveraged his ass off to invest in a new "upscale development" (aren't they always?) just as the market was reaching its peak, but then everything cratered and he didn't have nearly the capital to cover his debt exposure.

If he'd just kept his money in the goddamn bank instead, and then started investing in stocks conservatively in 2009, he'd be in pretty good shape. But like so many coaches and athletes, they're burning with the desire to double or triple their money as soon as possible, and it never occurs to them that investing in speculative projects in an overheated market is gambling, pure and simple.

Speaking of athletes getting in over their heads in business ventures:

"PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling might have to sell or give up the famed blood-stained sock he wore on the team's way to the 2004 World Series championship to cover millions of dollars in loans he guaranteed to his failed video game company."

Yeoman

October 4th, 2012 at 9:27 PM ^

The list is here (see Schedule F, starting on page 13):

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/johnlsmithamended.pdf

It's basically the development company, all the banks they borrowed from, and all his business partners who co-guaranteed the debt.

It's maybe worth pointing out that many of these numbers being added to get to the $40.7 million are just ballpark figures, and sometimes not even that. He doesn't actually know how much he owes; just that it's a whole lot more than he has.