# List of bankrupts

Bankruptcy. On July 13, 2015, DonJon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut with a debt of $32,509,549.91.
Modern bankruptcy law often distinguishes reorganization, in which only some of the bankrupt's assets are taken, a repayment plan is devised and part of the debt is discharged, from liquidation. In the latter type of bankruptcy, all of the debtors assets are included in the bankruptcy estate, sometimes in addition to his disposable income for a period of time, after which all of the debts are discharged.
The details vary between jurisdictions. In the US, the liquidation bankruptcy is governed by Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code and is generally available to individuals passing a means test. Reorganization bankruptcy is governed by Chapters 11 and 13. Chapter 11 is mostly used by high net-worth individuals. In the 12-month period ending June 30, 2017, Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings accounted for, respectively, 474,258 (61%) and 1,099 (0.14%) out of 772,594 nonbusiness bankruptcy filings in the USA.

## Notable bankrupts

Bankruptcy filings by celebrities generate extensive publicity, which has been cited as a factor contributing to a shift towards a less negative public perception of personal bankruptcy observed since the 1960s. Lawyers have reported using celebrity examples to persuade their clients to file for bankruptcy.
Listed below are notable individuals who filed for personal bankruptcy or were subject to a similar form of insolvency management process. The list does not include business bankruptcies and bankruptcies that were not officially recognized.

### Key

| Chapter 7 | Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code | USA |
| Chapter 11 | Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code | USA |
| Chapter 13 | Chapter 13, Title 11, United States Code | USA |
| BR 1914/1926 | Bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Acts 1914 and 1926 | United Kingdom |
| IA 1986 | Bankruptcy under the Insolvency Act 1986 | United Kingdom |
| Name | Known as | Bankruptcy type | Year of filing | Details |
| Rembrandt | Dutch painter | Cessio bonorum | 1656 | His assets, including a collection of paintings, were subsequently auctioned off. |
| Immanuel Nobel | Swedish engineer, father of Alfred Nobel | Petition to Stockholm's magistrates' court | 1833 | The bankruptcy was a result of a loss of three barges carrying construction materials. He became insolvent again in 1856. |
| Mathew Brady | American Civil War photographer | Warrant in bankruptcy issued by the District Court for the Southern District of New York. | 1873 | Brady ran into debt after investing over $100,000 to create over 10,000 plates. He expected the US government to buy the photographs after the war, but it refused to do so, thus forcing Brady into bankruptcy. In 1875, the United States Congress purchased the entire archive for $25,000, which went towards the debts. He died destitute in the charity ward of Presbyterian Hospital in New York in 1896. |
| Henry J. Heinz | founder of Heinz | — | 1875 | Assets of $110,000 and debt of $160,000. The bankruptcy was a result of a failure of his condiment business Noble and Company selling horseradish, caused by the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1873. He was twice arrested and released. He was tried for fraud in 1876 and acquitted. In the same year he started a new company, F & J Heinz, with his brother John Heinz and a cousin Frederick Heinz. One of its products was the tomato ketchup, which proved highly successful. Heinz was released from bankruptcy in 1885. |
| James Abbott McNeill Whistler | American artist | Bankruptcy Act 1869 | 1879 | The bankruptcy was caused by legal costs of a libel lawsuit against the critic John Ruskin. Whistler won the case, but the damages awarded were insufficient to cover the costs. |
| Samuel Clemens (known as Mark Twain) | American author | Assignment for Benefit of Creditors | 1894 | He owed over $100,000. The bankruptcy was caused by failed investments, notably in the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision. Clemens paid off his debts in full, despite no legal obligation to do so, after conducting a series of profitable public lectures. The bankruptcy was filed under the New York state law since the United States did not have a federal bankruptcy law at the time. |
| Oscar Wilde | Irish author | Bankruptcy Act 1883 | 1895 | He owed £3591. The bankruptcy was caused by legal costs following an unsuccessful lawsuit, which also led to his imprisonment for homosexual behaviour. He died destitute in 1900. |
| Mary Nolan | American actress | — | 1931 | No assets against debt of $50,000. Caused by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. |
| William Fox | co-founder of 20th Century Fox | Section 21a of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. § 44(a)) | 1936 | Assets of $1,600,000 and debt of $9,535,261. In 1942, he was imprisoned for obstructing the justice during the bankruptcy proceedings. He attempted to bribe judge John Warren Davis with a $27,500 loan. He served half of his one-year sentence. |
| William Durant | co-founder of General Motors | Filed in the Federal District court in New York. | 1936 | His listed clothing worth $250 as his only asset against a debt of $914,000. The bankruptcy followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, which led to the failure of his company Durant Motors. |
| Veronica Lake | American actress | Filed in US Federal Court. | 1951 | Assets of $168,050 against debt of $156,573.91. Around the time of the bankruptcy, the IRS seized her property due to non-payment of the income tax. |
| Mickey Rooney | American actor | Chapter 11 | 1962 | Assets of $500 against debt of $464,914. |
| Dorothy Dandridge | American actress and singer | — | 1963 | Caused by bad oil investments. |
| Jimmie Nicol | British drummer | BR 1914/1926 | 1965 | He owed £4,066. |
| Vic Damone | American singer | Filed in US District Court. | 1971 | Assets of $35,371 against debt of $784,137 including nearly $300,000 in unpaid taxes. Damone filed for bankruptcy a month after his divorce from actress Judith Rawlins. |
| Lionel Bart | British musician | BR 1914/1926 | 1972 | He owed £73,000. |
| Isaac Hayes | American singer | Filed in a federal court. | 1976 | He owed about $6,000,000. Filed for bankruptcy together with his wife. He described tax liens as the precipitating factor for bankruptcy. |
| Marvin Gaye | American singer | — | 1976 | He owed $6,946,058. The bankruptcy followed his divorce and a court order requiring him to pay his ex-wife $600,000 of alimony. He filed for bankruptcy for his company Right-On Production at the same time. |
| Vince McMahon | American wrestling promoter | Filed in a U.S. bankruptcy court. | 1976 | They owed a total of $955,805 to 26 distinct creditors. The joint bankruptcy followed a failed investment. |
| Linda McMahon | American wrestling promoter and politician | Filed in a U.S. bankruptcy court. | 1976 | They owed a total of $955,805 to 26 distinct creditors. The joint bankruptcy followed a failed investment. |
| Donald Eugene Lytle (known as Johnny Paycheck) | American singer | Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court | 1976 | Assets of $153,232 against debt of $488,611. |
| Donald Eugene Lytle (known as Johnny Paycheck) | American singer | Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court | 1982 | He filed for bankruptcy shortly before an auction was due to take place to sell his belongings to satisfy tax debt. |
| Donald Eugene Lytle (known as Johnny Paycheck) | American singer | Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court | 1990 | He owed $1,600,000, mostly unpaid taxes. He was serving a prison sentence for assault at the time. |
| Randy Johnson | American football player | — | 1977 | — |
| Larry King | television host | Chapter 7 | 1978 | He owed $352,000. The bankruptcy was caused by his inability to find employment following a grand larceny charge. He began hosting the Larry King Show in the same year. |
| Tom Petty | American musician | Chapter 11 | 1979 | Assets of $56,845 against debt of $576,638. Petty used the bankruptcy to strengthen his position in negotiations with the music label MCA Records, which had bought his indie label. |
| Cyndi Lauper | American singer | Chapter 7 | 1981 | Caused by a lawsuit brought by her former manager, following a split of her band. |
| George Best | Northern Irish footballer | BR 1914/1926 | 1982 | He was made bankrupt by the Inland Revenue over £22,000 of unpaid taxes. He was discharged in 1992. He said of his career: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds [women] and fast cars – the rest I just squandered". |
| Michael Lee Aday (known as Meat Loaf) | American musician | Chapter 7 | 1983 | He owed $1,600,000. |
| Francis Ford Coppola | American filmmaker | Chapter 11 | 1983 | An involuntary Chapter 11 petition was filed by creditors for one of Coppola's companies, Hollywood General Studios. This and the following bankruptcies were a result of financial failure of the movie One From the Heart which Coppola had financed with his own money. |
| Francis Ford Coppola | American filmmaker | Chapter 11 | 1990 | At the same time, Coppola filed a separate Chapter 11 petition for one of this companies, Zoetrope Productions. |
| Francis Ford Coppola | American filmmaker | Chapter 11 | 1992 | Combined assets of $52,000,000 and debts of $98,000,000. The bankruptcy covered Coppola personally together with his wife, and his two companies, Zoetrope Corporation and Zoetrope Productions. |
| Mick Fleetwood | British musician | Chapter 7 | 1984 | Assets of $2,404,430 against debt of $3,697,163. Among the causes of bankruptcy were impulsive real estate purchases and failed investments. |
| George Clinton | American singer | Chapter 7 | 1984 | Clinton claims that the bankruptcy was "fictitious" — part of a conspiracy to deprive him of his income. |
| Ronald Isley | American musician | Chapter 11 | 1984 or 1987 | The case was later converted to Chapter 7. |
| Ronald Isley | American musician | Chapter 11 | 1997 | The case was converted to Chapter 7 in 1998. He was discharged in 2001. In 2005, he was convicted for tax evasion and sentenced to three years and one month in prison. |
| Jay Black | American singer | — | 1985 | Caused by unpaid taxes in connection with his gambling addiction. |
| John Connally | Governor of Texas and Treasury Secretary | Chapter 11 | 1987 | At the same time, his real estate investment firm filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was caused by unsuccessful investments. |
| Andy Gibb | English singer | Chapter 7 | 1987 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of more than $1,000,000. He died six months later due to a viral infection. |
| Sylvia Browne | American author | — | 1988 | — |
| Jerry Lee Lewis | American musician | Chapter 7 | 1988 | His bankruptcy petition listed total liabilities of $3,000,000 including $2,000,000 of unpaid taxes in addition to medical and personal debts. |
| Tammy Wynette | American musicians | Chapter 11 | 1988 | They owed over $1,000,000. The couple filed for joint bankruptcy as a result of a bad investment in two Florida shopping centers. |
| George Richey | American musicians | Chapter 11 | 1988 | They owed over $1,000,000. The couple filed for joint bankruptcy as a result of a bad investment in two Florida shopping centers. |
| Vinnie Vincent | American rock musician | Chapter 11 | 1989 | His creditors included Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. |
| Vinnie Vincent | American rock musician | Chapter 13 (withdrawn) | 2008 | Caused by lost lawsuit against his former band, KISS. He withdrew the bankruptcy petition after an appeal in which third parties wanted to convert the bankruptcy to Chapter 7. |
| Willie Nelson | American musician | Chapter 11 | 1990 | He owed $16–32 million to the IRS during the 1980s. $16 million in his assets was seized by the IRS before the bankruptcy. His IRS debt was later settled at a discount rate. |
| Melba Moore | American singer and actress | — | 1990s | The bankruptcy followed her divorce from Charles Huggins who also sued her and The Daily News newspaper for libel. |
| Gary Kurtz | American film producer | — | 1990s | The bankruptcy was reportedly related to the financial failure of the film Slipstream and let to its release into the public domain. |
| Merle Haggard | American musician | Chapter 11 | 1992 | The bankruptcy followed a series of failed businesses and divorces. |
| Cathy Lee Crosby | American actress | — | 1992 | According to her autobiography, Let the Magic Begin, Crosby filed for bankruptcy to stop a lawsuit by her former husband Joe Theismann demanding half of her assets. |
| Wayne Newton | American singer | Chapter 11 | 1992 | He owed $20,000,000, $8.3 million of which was owed to Northeastern Bank of Pennsylvania, as a result of bad investments in the 1980s. |
| Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards | British ski jumper | — | 1992 | The bankruptcy followed his inability to pay a tax bill due to a failure of his trust fund. He subsequently sued the trustees for mismanagement and won a settlement of around £100,000. |
| Lorrie Morgan | American singer | Chapter 11 | 1992 | She owed more than $846,000. The creditors were repaid in full, and the bankruptcy petition was withdrawn. |
| Lorrie Morgan | American singer | Chapter 7 | 2008 | Assets of $500,000-$1,000,000 against debt of $1,000,000-$10,000,000. She described the bankruptcy as a "necessary part" of "restructuring" her business. |
| Kim Basinger | American actress | Chapter 11 | 1993 | Assets of $2,000,000-$3,000,000 against debt of over $11,000,000. The bankruptcy followed a judgement awarding Main Line Pictures $8,100,000 against her for walking away from the movie Boxing Helena. The case was eventually settled for $3,800,000. The bankruptcy was later converted to Chapter 7. Her assets included a large portion of the town Braselton, Georgia. |
| Fife Symington | Governor of Arizona | Chapter 7 | 1995 | Assets of $61,000 against debt of more than $24,000,000, including $10,000,000 borrowed from union pension funds. The bankruptcy was caused by failed real estate investments. He was charged with defrauding his lenders and convicted in 1997. The conviction was overturned in 1999 and he was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001. |
| Susan Powter | American motivational speaker | Chapter 11 | 1995 | Assets of $500,000-$999,000 against debt of up to $1,000,000 owed to Time Warner video unit and around $500,000 of other debt. The bankruptcy was caused by legal costs. |
| La Toya Jackson | American singer | Chapter 11 | 1995 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of $500,000-$1,000,000. The bankruptcy was caused by her unsuccessful singing career and $650,000 in damages claimed by Moulin Rouge for ending her contract early. |
| Dorothy Hamill | American figure skater | Chapter 11 | 1996 | Assets of $1,300,000 against debt of $1,600,000. |
| Vickie Lynn Hogan (known as Anna Nicole Smith) | American model and actress | Chapter 11 | 1996 | Her assets included jewelry worth nearly $1,000,000. The bankruptcy was a result of a $830,000 judgment against her in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by her former nanny. Her claim to her deceased husband's estate, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was the subject of a lengthy litigation culminating in two Supreme Court cases, Marshall v. Marshall and after her death, Stern v. Marshall. |
| Stanley Kirk Burrell (known as MC Hammer) | American rapper | Chapter 11 | 1996 | Assets of $1,000,000 against debt of over $13,000,000. The bankruptcy was attributed to his extravagant lifestyle and decreasing album sales. The case was converted to Chapter 7 in 1998. |
| Burt Reynolds | American actor | Chapter 11 | 1996 | He owed more than $10,000,000. The bankruptcy followed a divorce and a failed business venture. |
| Anita Bryant | American singer | Chapter 11 | 1997 | Her debts included more than $172,000 in unpaid state and federal taxes. In 2001, her business went bankrupt, leaving behind unpaid employees and creditors. |
| Corey Haim | Canadian actor | Chapter 11 | 1997 | Assets of $40,000 against debt of over $200,000, including state and federal taxes, and medical expenses. |
| Keith Famie | American TV producer | Chapter 7 | 1997 | Assets of $6,353 against debt of $274,100. |
| Mindy McCready | American singer | Chapter 7 | 1997 | Caused by a litigation over management and publishing agreements. |
| Debbie Reynolds | American actress | Chapter 11 | 1997 | The bankruptcy followed a failure to sell her company Debbie Reynolds Hotel and Casino, which filed for Chapter 11 on the same day. |
| Burt Prelutsky | American screenwriter | — | 1997 | Caused by inability to find work. |
| Lynne Spears | American author, mother of Britney Spears | — | 1998 | She filed for bankruptcy together with her husband. |
| Toni Braxton | American singer | Chapter 7 | 1998 | She owed $3,900,000. Three of her companies filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at the same time. |
| Toni Braxton | American singer | Chapter 7 | 2010 | Assets of $1,000,000-$10,000,000 against debt of $10,000,000-$50,000,000. The bankruptcy was precipitated by medical problems. |
| William Roache | English actor | IA 1986 | 1999 | He owed £300,000. The bankruptcy was caused by legal costs from a libel suit he started. |
| Gary Coleman | American actor | Chapter 7 | 1999 | He owed $72,000. |
| Debelah Morgan | American singer | — | 1999 | She filed for bankruptcy after two failed albums. |
| Sherman Hemsley | American actor | Chapter 13 | 1999 | He owed over $1,000,000. His creditors included the IRS and a Nevada investment corporation. |
| Elizabeth Gracen | American actress and model | — | 1999 | She owed $194,000. |
| Heidi Fleiss | American madam | Chapter 11 | 1999 | Assets of $5,200 against debt of $270,000. The bankruptcy followed a prison sentence on charges related to running a call-girl service. |
| Lorraine Bracco | American actress | Chapter 11 | 1999 | The debts included legal fees from a custody battle. |
| Ashley MacIsaac | Canadian fiddler | Canadian law | 2000 | Assets of $119,000 against debt of $305,000, mostly unpaid taxes. |
| Mike Tyson | American boxer | Chapter 11 | 2003 | Assets of $10,000,000-$50,000,000 against debt of over $27,000,000. His biggest creditors were the US and British tax authorities, whom he owed a total of $17,400,000. |
| Sheryl Swoopes | American basketball player | Chapter 13 | 2004 | Caused by "bad investments". She owed $711,050, including $275,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. |
| Michael Barrymore | English comedian | IA 1986 | 2004 | Caused by unpaid taxes. |
| Lorenzo Lamas | American actor | Chapter 7 | 2004 | Assets of $433,000 against debt of $617,000, including nearly $200,000 for a private airplane. He filed for bankruptcy after the cancellation of his television show The Immortal. |
| Lorenzo Lamas | American actor | Chapter 7 | 2014 | Assets of $9,100 against debt of $322,000. The debt included $285,000 in state and federal taxes and nearly $20,000 in domestic support. |
| Chris Eubank | British boxer | IA 1986 | 2005 | He was made bankrupt due to a tax debt of £1,300,000. |
| Jim Davidson | English comedian | IA 1986 | 2006 | The bankruptcy followed his failure to keep payments on a £1,400,000 tax bill, of which £700,000 was outstanding at the time of bankruptcy. |
| Sammy Kershaw | American musician | Chapter 13 | 2007 | Assets of $100,001-$1,000,000 against debt in the same range, primarily business-related. |
| Willie Aames | American actor | Chapter 7 | 2008 | He owed $350,000. |
| Michael Vick | American football player | Chapter 11 | 2008 | Assets of $16,000,000 against debt of $20,400,000. The bankruptcy followed his trial and prison sentence for organizing dog fighting. |
| Stephen Baldwin | American actor | Chapter 11 | 2009 | Assets of more than $1,100,000 against debt of more than $2,300,000. The debt included $1,200,000 on mortgages and more than $1,000,000 in unpaid taxes. |
| Lenny Dykstra | American baseball player | Chapter 11 | 2009 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of $10,000,000-$50,000,000. In 2010, the case was converted to Chapter 7. In 2012, Dykstra was sentenced to six and a half month in federal prison for bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets, and money laundering. |
| Kerry Katona | English singer | IA 1986 (bankruptcy) | 2008 | The bankruptcy was caused by her failure to pay the final £82,000 of a £417,000 tax bill |
| Kerry Katona | English singer | IA 1986 (bankruptcy) | 2013 | She declared the second bankruptcy a few months after an advertising campaign featuring her, which suggested that payday loans could help fund a celebrity lifestyle, was banned by an industry regulator. |
| Joe Swash | television personality | IA 1986 | 2009 | He was made bankrupt due to his failure to pay £20,000 of a £120,000 tax bill. |
| Joe Swash | television personality | IA 1986 | 2013 | He made bankrupt by the HMRC. |
| Antoine Walker | American basketball player | Chapter 7 | 2010 | Assets of $4,000,000 against debt of $12,870,000. |
| Derrick Coleman | American basketball player | Chapter 7 | 2010 | He owed $4,700,000 due to failed investments. |
| Dick Smothers | American actor and comedian | Chapter 11 | 2010 | Assets of $2,000,000 and debts of $2,800,000 resulting from a failed real estate investment. |
| Lauren Booth | British journalist | IA 1986 | 2010 | Failure to manage her financial affairs. She went bankrupt twice. |
| John Ignatius Quinn (known as Seán Quinn) | Irish businessman | IA 1986 | 2011 | The bankruptcy was annulled after appeal by his creditor, the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (formerly Anglo Irish Bank), which successfully challenged the location of Quinn's centre of main interest. |
| John Ignatius Quinn (known as Seán Quinn) | Irish businessman | Irish Law | 2012 | The application was filed by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. |
| Arnold Klein | American dermatologist | Chapter 11 | 2011 | Assets of $6,000,000 against debt of $8,400,000. |
| Rulon Gardner | American wrestler | Chapter 7 | 2012 | Assets of over $430,000 against debt of $2,934,000. |
| Jose Canseco | baseball player | Chapter 7 | 2012 | Assets of $21,000 against debt of $1,700,000, of which over $500,000 was owed to the IRS. |
| Gary Busey | American actor | Chapter 7 | 2012 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of $500,000-$1,000,000. His creditors included the IRS, Wells Fargo, Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, and a storage company. |
| Nicole Eggert | American actress | Chapter 13 | 2013 | Assets of $1,076,400 against debt of $807,115. Filed twice before, but the attempts were dismissed. |
| Dionne Warwick | American singer | Chapter 7 | 2013 | Assets of around $25,000 against debt including nearly $10,000,000 in unpaid taxes. |
| Aaron Carter | American singer | Chapter 7 | 2013 | Assets of $8,232.16 against debt of over $3,500,000, mostly unpaid taxes. |
| Richard Rawson (known as Fazer) | English rapper | IA 1986 | 2013 | Caused by unpaid taxes. |
| Nick Griffin | British politician | IA 1986 | 2013 | The petition was filed by his former solicitors whom he owed £120,000 in fees and costs. |
| Janice Dickinson | American model | Chapter 7 | 2013 | She owed nearly $1,000,000, mostly unpaid taxes. |
| David Adkins (known as Sinbad) | American comedian and actor | Chapter 7 | 2013 | Assets of $131,000 against debt of $11,000,000, including $8,300,000 owed to the IRS. He previously filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and 2010, but the cases were dismissed. |
| Drake Bell | American actor | Chapter 7 | 2013 | Asset of $1,585,500 against debt of $2,166,000. |
| Calum Best | British-American model | IA 1986 | 2013 | He was made bankrupt by the HMRC over unpaid taxes. |
| Kelly Rutherford | American actress | Chapter 7 | 2013 | Assets of $23,937 against debt of $2,021,832. The bankruptcy was a result of a divorce and child custody litigation. |
| Debi Thomas | American figure skater | Chapter 7 | 2014 | She owed more than $600,000. |
| Anita Harris | English actress | IA 1986 | 2014 | She was made bankrupt by the HMRC, to which she owed more than £14,000. |
| Jade Ewen | English singer | IA 1986 | 2014 | The bankruptcy included unpaid taxes. |
| Kristina Laferne Roberts (known as Zane) | American author | Chapter 7 | 2014 | Assets of more than $1,400,000 against debt of more than $3,400,000. |
| Teri Polo | American actress | Chapter 11 | 2014 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of nearly $1,000,000, including $772,000 in unpaid taxes. |
| David James | English footballer | IA 1986 | 2014 | The bankruptcy followed his divorce. His collection of football memorabilia was subsequently auctioned off. |
| Jack Johnson | American hockey player | Chapter 11 | 2014 | Assets of less than $50,000 against debt of more than $10,000,000. The bankruptcy followed defaulting on high-interest loans and three lawsuits against Johnson. |
| Chris Sutton | English footballer | — | 2014 | He owed more than £330,000. |
| Christian Nadé | French footballer | sequestration under the Scottish law | 2014 | The bankruptcy was caused by debt related to car purchases. |
| Donna D'Errico | American actress | Chapter 7 | 2014 | Assets of $414,000 against debt of $947,000. The debt consisted mostly of legal fees from a divorce and custody litigation against Nikki Sixx. |
| Willie Thorne | English snooker player | IA 1986 | 2015 | Debt of £601,204. The bankruptcy was a result of spending borrowed money on gambling. In 2016, he was given a 6-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Order for borrowing money "he had no reasonable expectation of repaying". |
| Clinton Portis | American football player | Chapter 11 | 2015 | Assets of $13,290,000 million, including $10,000,000 in legal claims against debt of $5,000,000, including domestic support, back taxes, money owed to MGM Grand casino, to Borgata and to his mother. |
| David Cassidy | American actor | Chapter 11 | 2015 | Assets of $3,714,913 against debt of $2,143,367.97. |
| Lee Ryan | English singer | IA 1986 | 2015 | He was made bankrupt by a debt collection company. |
| 50 Cent | American rapper | Chapter 11 | 2015 | Assets of $10,000,000-$50,000,000 against debt of $32,509,549.91. Legal fees and judgments exceeding $20 million over the past year were the primary cause of the filing. See also 50 Cent, Bankruptcy. |
| David Silveria | American metal musician | Chapter 11 | 2015 | Assets consisting of real property valued at $1,050,134, and $60,500 of personal property including ownership interest in a restaurant and Family Values Tour Music Festival. Secured debts include first and second mortgages, tax liens, and judgment liens totaling $2,451,826. Unsecured debts include tax debt and general consumer debt totaling $117,272. Case was dismissed within eight months. |
| Ewen MacIntosh | English actor | IA 1986 | 2016 | He was made bankrupt by the HMRC. |
| Gail Porter | Scottish TV presenter | IA 1986 | 2016 | She was made bankrupt by the HMRC due to over £100,000 of unpaid taxes. |
| Karen Millen | founder of Karen Millen Fashions | IA 1986 | 2016 | She was made bankrupt by the HMRC due to about £6,000,000 of debt arising from her involvement in a tax avoidance scheme. In the bankruptcy files, she was described as "unemployed fashion designer, formerly a company director". |
| F. Lee Bailey | American attorney | Chapter 7 | 2016 | Assets of $408,176 against debt of over $5,500,000. The bankruptcy was caused by a tax debt of nearly $5,200,000 related to his handling of a client's stock shares, which also led to his disbarment in 2001. |
| Dean Windass | English footballer | IA 1986 | 2016 | He was made bankrupt by the HMRC, to which he owed £150,000. |
| Boris Becker | German tennis player | IA 1986 | 2017 | The petition was filed by one of his creditors, Arbuthnot Latham. |
| Thomas Derbyshire (known as Tommy Cannon) | English comedian | IA 1986 | 2017 | He claimed he couldn't pay a £80,000 tax bill. |
| Liz Jones | British journalist | IA 1986 | 2017 | — |
| Lil' Kim | American rapper | Chapter 13 converted to Chapter 11 | 2018 | She filed a Chapter 13 in order to stop a foreclousre of her New Jersey home valued at $2,300,000. Both her secured and unsecured debts each totaled more than $2,000,000 which made her ineligible to be a debtor under Chapter 13. She converted her case to Chapter 11 and then dismissed the case shortly thereafter. |
| Gail Zeiler (known as Kacey Jones) | American musician | — | — | — |
| Richard Harris | Irish actor | — | — | He was declared bankrupt twice. |
| Gary Brackett | Athlete | Chapter 7 | — | $2 million in assets and $5.8 million in liabilities, most of those unsecured business debts |