Former NFL star running back Clinton Portis made more than $43 million dollars during his nine-year NFL career, but lost nearly all of it through lavish spending, bad investments, and, according to a lawsuit, bank withdrawals without his consent.
In a story published by Sports Illustrated, Portis recalls how, in 2013, he sat in a car outside of an office building in Washington D.C., armed with a gun, hoping to murder one of the people who managed his money.
“It wasn’t no beat up,” Portis says. “It was kill.”
Portis says if he had run into the man who blew his fortune, "We'd probably be doing this interview from prison."
But after receiving a call from a friend who convinced him to think about his family and his four kids, Portis put the gun away and took a more sensible approach.
Some members of Portis' money management team were punished by the NFL Player's Association and a federal regulatory agency for their shady dealings, but none went to jail for anything to do with mismanaging Portis' fortune.
"No jail time, no nothing," Portis told Sports Illustrated. "Living happily ever after."
He ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2015, sold homes in Florida and Virginia at a loss, and now works a couple of different jobs including helping with the Redskins television broadcasts in the preseason.
He says he's at peace with everything now and is focused on a new career in the media.
"Most people would have offed themselves if they had to deal with what I had to deal with," he said. "Life is so much clearer after coming out of that storm."
You can read the fascinating full story here.
