Tighten that (heavyweight) belt!

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Tyson's Bankruptcy Is a Lesson in Ways to Squander a Fortune

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

 

 

For the former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, a cash machine to himself and to others, record earnings in the boxing ring became a license to spend ? on jewelry, mansions, cars, limousines, cellphones, parties, clothing, motorcycles and Siberian tigers. Despite making about $400 million over the past 20 years, Tyson managed to squander his fortune.

 

 

 

One of his most recent extravagances came on Dec. 22, when Tyson walked into a Las Vegas jewelry store and picked up a $173,706 gold chain lined with 80 carats in diamonds. But he never paid for the fabulous jewelry, which is among the $23 million in debts specified in the Chapter 11 petitions he filed Friday with the United States Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

 

Tyson's free-spending past made him creditworthy at Jewelers Inc., which he departed without paying a cent for the diamonds. "Knowing him for so long, I gave him the merchandise and knew he'd pay later," Mordechai Yerushalmi, the store's owner, said by telephone yesterday. "He had open credit with me." He added: "He's been through his ups and downs. He will make good on it."

 

That may not be easy. At 37, Tyson's boxing skills are diminishing, and so is his earning power; he could once command $30 million for a night's work. His future earnings and the future proceeds from the sale of a Connecticut mansion will go to pay a $9 million divorce settlement to his ex-wife, Monica Turner. She also has a lien on Tyson's Las Vegas estate, which is beside Wayne Newton's.

 

And now, much as he ardently hammered at his opponents' jaws, Tyson's creditors will pursue his assets. According to Tyson's bankruptcy filing, his foes include:

 

¶The Internal Revenue Service, which is owed $13.4 million, and the British tax authorities, which are owed $4 million.

 

¶The treasuries of Georgia and Michigan, which are owed $317,201 by Tyson's company, Mike Tyson Enterprises.

 

¶Seven law firms, which are owed more than $600,000 by Tyson and his company.

 

¶Barry Hankerson, a financial manager, who is owed $500,000.

 

¶The music producer Jimmy Henchmen, who is owed $450,000.

 

¶A former trainer, Stacey McKinley, who has sued Tyson in a Memphis court to repay a debt of $800,000.

 

"We had some negotiations, but they didn't go anywhere," McKinley's lawyer, Henry Shelton III, said from Memphis. "Now, under the bankruptcy act, the lawsuit is stayed."

 

Tyson also owes $51,949 in child support to Kimberley Scarborough, who gave birth to their daughter in 1991. "She's getting along with difficulty," Raoul Felder, her lawyer, said. "It's of concern when you see someone who made $300 million." Felder said he recently dropped a paternity suit against Tyson filed by another woman, who is still listed as a creditor in the Tyson filings.

 

Tyson's assets ? ranging from $10 million to $50 million, the filing says ? include cars, two Las Vegas homes, where he said he no longer lives, and other property.

 

Tyson's filing says his debt totals more than $27 million.