A series of soured business deals has prompted Dallas Cowboys defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban to file for personal bankruptcy protection and to liquidate a Missouri City, Texas, company of which he is an officer.
The team's first-round draft pick from 1999 listed assets in his voluntary personal Chapter 7 filing worth about $2.24 million. Those were primarily a $400,000 home in Southlake, Texas; a $155,000 house in Lewisville, Texas; two certificates of deposit totaling $700,000; and $239,405 in a brokerage account.
Ekuban is expected to surrender the $700,000 in CDs, as he had previously agreed to put them up as collateral for debts on two business ventures, Irie Productions Inc. and Jones Legacy Family Ltd.
Ekuban's liabilities total $3.12 million and include a $1 million loan from Whitney National Bank that EBCO Partners LLC took out as part of a plan to redevelop some Houston-area apartments into condominiums. Ekuban is "titular president" of EBCO, which is being liquidated under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code.
Ekuban personally guaranteed the real-estate loan, though he has claimed in court filings that he was fraudulently induced into signing the guarantee because of alleged "misrepresentations" by his former agent, Dwight "Sean" Jones.
Jones, who declined to comment for this story, subsequently sued Ekuban for defamation in Fort Bend County, Texas. Ekuban responded with a counterclaim for fraud, self-dealing and breach of fiduciary duty. That case is pending.
Meanwhile, Whitney National sued EBCO and Ekuban to collect on the real-estate loan, and on June 6 a Houston federal judge ruled in the bank's favor, ordering EBCO Partners and Ekuban to pay more than $1 million in principal and interest, with interest accumulating at 9.5 percent annually.
Ekuban made about $679,000 last year and $419,000 in 2001, mostly from his Cowboys salary. He is slated to make $375,000 this year, and could get a $185,000 bonus by reporting to training camp on time and passing a physical, documents say.
Jeff Bounds writes for the Dallas Business Journal.
