Judge halted Adrian Peterson auction amid debt collection against former Vikings star

A judge in Houston halted the sale of hundreds of Adrian Peterson’s personal items recently after they were seized by a court-appointed debt collector who has been trying to get the former Minnesota Vikings star to make good on his massive debt.

The debt collector, Robert Berleth, seized the items from Peterson’s storage units in Houston, including his NFL trophies, game balls, jerseys, jackets, shoes and neckties. They were put up for auction online from Feb. 15-29 before Peterson objected and said he didn’t authorize the sale of his trophies.

This led to a court hearing and decision by the judge to discontinue the sale until Berleth produced an inventory of all property taken from Peterson’s storage units. The auction has been on hold since Feb. 29 as the two sides seek to determine what is “personal property” exempt from the debt collection, according to court records.

“The Receiver (Berleth) has seized a variety of assets which had been stored in storage facilities,” Peterson’s attorney said in court records. “Despite repeated requests from the Defendant (Peterson), the Receiver has refused and/or failed to provide any kind of inventory or identification of what assets he has in his possession. Receiver now seeks to auction various items he has seized. The items the Receiver currently include numerous irreplaceable items, including, for example, Defendant’s National Football League “2007 Rookie of the Year” trophy. The sale of such items cannot be undone. If the auction is permitted to proceed, no monetary amount can replace those lost items.”

What does Adrian Peterson owe?

Peterson, 38, made more than $100 million in his NFL career but still has massive debt stemming from a $5.2 million loan he took out from a Pennsylvania lending company in 2016 to pay back other lenders. He didn’t pay it back and it since has grown with interest, leading to an $8.3 million judgment against him in 2021.

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Berleth then was appointed as receiver to collect on it in the Houston area, near where Peterson lives. In court records, he accused Peterson of playing a shell game with his assets to foil his collection efforts, which Peterson’s attorney denied this week.

The receiver said in court documents he is to collect on the $8.3 million judgment amount, plus 9% interest, attorney’s fees and a receiver’s fee of about $2.1 million, plus expenses. The approximate collection total is $12.5 million, he stated in court records. So far only "de minimis" offsets have been made against this judgment, according to his filings.

"The Receiver intercepted an auction the debtor initiated and seized items at Storage Facilities leased and secured with lock by the Debtor (Peterson)," Berleth said in court documents. "The assets belong to the Debtor. The leases at the Storage Facilities were delinquent. The debtor contested the sale of trophies. The debtor’s (attorney) contacted the Receiver and expressed this concern."

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com