The Gainesville home of former NFL running back Clinton Portis was sold at auction Tuesday morning despite an emergency motion by his attorney on Monday to cancel the sale due to a purchase agreement.
Bank of New York Mellon, the plaintiff in the 2019 foreclosure case against Portis and his mother, Rhonnel Hearn, took ownership of the more than 8,000-square-foot purple mansion at 3510 NE 156th Ave. with a winning bid of $370,700.
The sale of the home off County Road 225 near Gainesville Raceway comes more than two years after a judge in April 2022 issued a final foreclosure ruling in favor of the plaintiff over roughly $1.6 million in unpaid principal, interest, insurance and taxes.
Two bankruptcy filings last year — by Portis on June 15 and by Hearn on Oct. 26 — forced previous auctions to be rescheduled.
Court records show the October bankruptcy filing was canceled on April 23 after an Alachua County judge in March ruled that no automatic stay would be granted in the event the property owners or any others who may claim interest file for bankruptcy protection.
Attorney Kadisha D. Phelps, with Miami-based law firm Sweetapple, Broeker & Varkas, filed an emergency motion on behalf of Portis and Hearn on Monday to halt the sale of the property due to a short-sale agreement.
The agreement shows a sales price of $705,000 and the buyer as K2 Real Estate Investments LLC, whose managers are listed as Kenneth and Kathy Morris of Tampa.
Attorneys for the plaintiff immediately filed an objection, noting that that contract price is less than 50% of the final judgment amount. The plaintiff also has been paying both taxes and insurance for the property, and the final judgment has been accruing interest since the April 2022 ruling.
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The filing also notes that “… neither the Defendant nor the Court can compel a foreclosing Plaintiff to accept less than the total Final Judgment amount by cancelling the sale.”
The motion was denied on Tuesday morning by Chief Judge Mark. W. Moseley.
Portis’ recent struggles also include a federal tax lien of about $246,000, the bulk of which — about $219,000 — is from tax years 2014 through 2016, and assessed in August 2019.
Portis first filed for bankruptcy in 2015 with many of his listed debts the same as the June 2023 filing. The 2015 filing also included a $500,000 debt to his mother and $412,000 in child support payments. He reported at the time a monthly income of $7,500 and average monthly expenses of $12,800.
Portis’ problems continued in 2019, as he was among a handful of former NFL players accused of health care fraud. He was charged with stealing nearly $100,000 by filing false reimbursement claims for medical equipment through the NFL’s Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan, a fund used to help retired players pay for medical expenses.
Portis’ first trial in the case ended in a hung jury. He then agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced in January 2022 to six months in federal prison and six months house arrest. He could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.
He has maintained his innocence despite his guilty plea.
Portis was a star player for Gainesville High School before playing with the University of Miami, where he played on the undefeated 2001 national championship team — widely considered as one of the best teams in college football history.
He was drafted by the NFL’s Denver Broncos in the second round the next year. The Broncos traded Portis after the 2003 season to the Washington Redskins — now the Washington Commanders — where he would eventually finish his career.
ESPN reported in 2004 that Portis signed an eight-year deal with Washington worth up to $50.6 million, making him the NFL’s highest paid running back at the time. Portis last played in 2010 but officially retired in August 2012.