*Former Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis was once thisclose to killing one of his financial managers who allegedly cost him millions of dollars through shady investments and wiped out part of his NFL fortune.
In a story published by Sports Illustrated, Portis recounted a night four years ago in which he sat in a car outside a building, a gun in his hand, and waited to shoot dead one of the managers he felt had ruined him financially.
“It wasn’t no beat up,” Portis told Sports Illustrated. “It was kill.”
A friend of his – a television producer who had been trained as a family therapist – talked him out of committing murder that day. Portis told SIÂ that if he had seen the person before calming down: “We’d probably be doing this interview from prison.”
The story does not specify whom Portis was awaiting that night in 2013, saying he was looking for one of several managers who had handled his funds.
Portis earned $43.1 million throughout his nine-year NFL career, but most of it had either been spent frivolously, lost through ill-advised investments or, as one lawsuit asserted, bank withdrawals without his consent.
Portis had filed multiple lawsuits against financial adviser Jeff Rubin and his associates from 2011 to 2013, focused in part on a $1 million investment in a southern Alabama casino. Also, according to SI, the suit contends that Rubin’s company opened an account for Portis at BB&T BankAtlantic with a forged signature. That led to withdrawals of more than $3.1 million without Portis knowing, according to the suit. He lost more money in a Ponzi scheme by Success Trade Securities that Portis says he was talked into by another manager, Jinesh Brahmbhatt.
The former managers lost their privileges to work in the financial sector but didn’t face prosecution, which made Portis furious.
“No jail time, no nothing,” Portis told Sports Illustrated. “Living happily ever after.”
Portis last played in 2010, retiring as the Redskins’ second all-time rusher behind Hall of Famer John Riggins. Portis rushed for 9,923 yards during his career. He is eligible for up to $1.5 million of the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement.
But in order to receive that money, Portis, who missed the final eight games of 2008 with a concussion, must be tested for early signs of dementia. Portis said he doesn’t want to do that because, “I’m really scared of the results.”
Portis now lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Virginia and, among other jobs, helps with Redskins television broadcasts in the preseason. He told the magazine he has found a peace with his life.
“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.”
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