Sell Championship Ring to Pay $130K Legal Bill, Judge Tells Ex-Rams Player
Although he played professional football for more than a decade and earned a championship ring when the St. Louis Rams went to the Super Bowl in 2001, Chidi Ahanotu says his only income today is about $40,000 a year in disability income.
But he could soon be getting free room and board: A Florida judge threatened today to hold the 39-year-old former Tampa Buccaneers defensive end in contempt if he doesn’t turn over the championship ring and other sports memorabilia for a law firm to auction to help pay Ahanotu’s $130,000 legal bill, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
The debt to the Solomon Law Group resulted from a custody battle several years ago with the mother of his children.
The firm is also pursuing litigation in Hillsborough Circuit Court to try to recover money from the pension to which Ahanotu will become entitled when he is 55, according to the newspaper. And Ahanotu has said he’d rather see that happen than give up the ring, which he had planned to pass on to his children.
Although he could potentially be jailed for contempt if he refuses to turn over the championship ring, as ordered, at a hearing next week, Ahanotu says he’s not afraid to serve time.
“It would give me a good opportunity to counsel some young men if I was in jail,” he tells the newspaper.
