(Image credit: SinBin.vegas photographer Brandon Andreessen)Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner and his wife, Dunya, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the District of Nevada on December 30, 2022.
According to a public filing, Lehner estimates his assets to be between $1-10 million while his liability to creditors is between $10-50 million.
In bankruptcy filing documents, Lehner is said to be the owner of RL Exotics LLC, “which operates a reptile farm in Plateau, Missouri, an operating business with 3 employees, and requires reptiles to be maintained and fed.”
Lehner was first linked to snakes in 2017 when he was reported to have purchased a collection of exotic snakes for $1.2 million.
Renick agreed to sell his pythons, ball pythons, and anacondas to NHL goaltender Robin Lehner in early 2017 for $1.2 million. Lehner Renick will be paid in quarterly installments of $200,000 over the course of the year. Lehner made one such payment in February 2017. –Article by Lucas Geisler of KMIZ in St. Louis, Missouri
The man in question, Ben Rennick, was murdered in June 2017 by his wife, Lynley Rennick, who was later murdered. He was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison. According to KMIZ, after Renick’s death, a lawsuit was filed against Lehner in 2018 after he stopped making payments to the Snakes.
Lehner objected in December of that year, claiming that he had incurred millions of dollars in costs for the care of Rinick’s animals. At some point after Ben’s death, he said, the snakes “began to breed among themselves in an uncontrolled, uncontrolled way.” This caused the group of snakes to lose value, but Lehner’s attorneys did not specify how much.
Then Renick Reptiles claimed in July 2019 that at one point, Lehner stole a group of anacondas [from] Renick Reptiles workplace (in addition to collecting ball eels that Lehner refused to pay for). The lawsuit did not say how many eels he allegedly picked.
The two sides suddenly announced a settlement in November 2019. A Montgomery County case filing from August said the two sides had reached a settlement, but wanted to keep its terms confidential. Lederman wrote that both sides wanted to “complement [Lehner]Purchase [snakes]. –Article by Lucas Geisler of KMIZ in St. Louis, Missouri
In 2019, Lehner incorporated RL Exotics LLC and has been operating the company ever since.
Potential interested parties in the bankruptcy filing include the Vegas Golden Knights, Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, the National Hockey League, Newport Sports Management, and a financial company called Sure Sports Lending.
Sure Sports Lending describes itself as an agency that “specializes in low-interest, unsecured loans and contractual advances for professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLS based on their player contracts.”
This is the same company that was sued by the trustee assigned to oversee Evander Kane’s bankruptcy.
Over a 10-month period between 2018 and 2019, Sure Sports arranged loans worth nearly $14 million for Kane, according to court filings. Ken in early 2021 Filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, The announcement of $26.8 million in commitments set off an ongoing stinging process between creditors and the hockey star who recently signed with the Edmonton Oilers. Sure Sports itself has come forward as a creditor, seeking approximately $1.2 million, as it claims Kane is owed in fees. –Article by Daniel Kaplan in The Athletic
The article also links Sure Sports in troubled loans with NFL runs Adrian Peterson and MLS quarterback Kemar Lawrence.
The bankruptcy alleges that Lehner’s debts are “primarily based on business debts incurred to assist in obtaining funds for a company or investment.”
In an email to SinBin.vegas, the attorney representing Robin Lehner said the Golden Knights’ attorneys and creditors have been notified of the bankruptcy filing.
