Evander Kane and the Sharks hit with a huge lawsuit from Centennial Bank.

Big trouble for Kane and the Sharks.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Evander Kane and the Sharks hit with a huge lawsuit from Centennial Bank.
Scott Taetsch/CSM/Zuma

This is, in my opinion, a new low for San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane.

A new report from Stephen Berg of Law 360 has revealed that both Kane and the San Jose Sharks are being sued by Centennial Bank. According to the lawsuit which was filled in Florida Court on Thursday, Kane owes more than $8.3 million in principal and interest after defaulting on a loan he had claimed was for "business opportunities."

Now you might be wondering, why are the Sharks themselves being dragged into this? 

Well according to the complaint security agreements that had been reached in the original loan in 2018, and the increased amounts that followed several amendments to the original loan, called for the Sharks to make direct payments to the bank from Kane's seven year, $49 million player contract. The bank alleges that it stopped receiving direct deposits in October of 2019 and it alleges that this came as a result of Kane's request for a "live" check from the team, cutting off the banks ability to receive its payments.

To be clear, Centennial seems to be putting the blame squarely on Kane here.

"Centennial believes and therefore avers that the borrower has directed the team to discontinue any and all future direct deposits of the pledged payments into the designated account, in violation of the security agreements," reads the complaint.

So how much is really owed?

As I stated above the bank alleges that Kane owes more than $8.3 million and here's how that breaks down. Kane owed $7.8 million in outstanding principal as well as an additional $503,000 in interest and another $90,000 in bank charges, however things could get much worse for the Sharks forward from here. Centennial Bank is also looking to recover their attorney fees, any legal expenses they may have incurred as a result of this suit, and has added that it is reserving the right to seek interest at the highest rate allowed under the law. This likely means that, should Kane lose this lawsuit, things will get considerably more expensive for him from here on out. 

Now I don't know what merit there is or is not to this case, remember this is merely information from a lawsuit filed on behalf of Centennial Bank, however I think Kane's checkered history does suggest that this is not out of character for him.

Remember in May of 2019 Kane obtained a $500,000 line of credit from the Cosmopolitan Casino in Las Vegas and also failed to repay that loan according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Casino.  That lawsuit was filed in November of 2019 but it was eventually dropped in April of 2020 with both sides in the matter declining to comment on whether or not a settlement was reached outside of the courts. I would speculate that, given this is a Las Vegas Casino we are talking about, the money was repaid in some way, shape or form.

According to Law 360, Centennial Bank also seeks "a declaratory judgement saying the Sharks are obligated to make the direct payments until the loan is paid in full and prohibiting Kane from interfering with the teams' compliance."

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