NHL goaltender Robin Lehner ‘files for bankruptcy over $1.2 million SNAKE FARM purchase gone awry after the world famous breeder he bought them from was MURDERED months later by his wife’
A Las Vegas Golden Knights professional ice hockey player has filed for bankruptcy with up to $50 million in liabilities.
Robin Lehner and his wife Donya filed for bankruptcy Dec. 30, a filing in the District of Nevada shows, listing the NHL and the Golden Knights as interested parties in the case.
It was widely reported that the 31-year-old Swedish goalkeeper’s financial woes stemmed from his purchase of a $1.2 million collection of exotic snakes in 2017 from a man named Ben Renick.
A few months after completing the purchase, Renick – a world-renowned reptile dealer – was murdered by his wife and her ex-boyfriend.
Robin Lehner has filed for bankruptcy after his exotic snake purchase went horribly wrong
Lehner paid $1.2 million for an exotic collection of snakes before the breeder he bought them from was murdered by his wife a few months later. Above is a file image of exotic snakes.
Lehner’s wife Donya (pictured with her daughter) is also listed in the bankruptcy filing
KMIZ reported last January that Lehner made an initial payment of $200,000 to Renick for the snakes, but halted all further transactions after his death.
As reported by the New York Post, Lehner, who previously played for the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabers and Chicago Blackhawks, owns RL Exotics LLC, which operates an exotic reptile farm in Missouri with three employees on the books.
Lehner estimates his net worth at between $1 million and $10 million, while his hockey base salary is expected to be $6.5 million this season.
The Gothenburg-born goalkeeper has been plagued by off-field issues throughout his career, having previously spent time in a drug rehabilitation clinic and speaking openly about his alcohol addiction.
In 2018, he left a game with what was later revealed to be a panic attack. The then 27-year-old wrote in the Athletic that he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ben Renick (pictured) was murdered by his wife in the months after he sold snakes to Lehner
Lynlee Renick (above) is serving a 16-year sentence for the murder of her husband, Ben
The panic attack came amid a lawsuit filed against him after he stopped paying for the snakes he bought the previous year.
Lehner then countered in December of that year, claiming he had incurred millions of dollars in expenses to care for Renick’s reptiles, saying the snakes “began to breed among themselves in an unattended, uncontrolled manner.”
Lehner’s lawyers claimed that the snake collection had lost value through breeding.
In 2018, snake seller Renick was murdered by his wife Lynlee, who was subsequently found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Last week, Lynlee dropped her appeal against the conviction and her sentence, asking for a voluntary release from prison.
Lehner had numerous off-field issues and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2018
Last week, Lynlee Renick dropped her appeal against the conviction and her sentence
In a case that occupied America until the Jan. 24, 2022 decision, Lynlee Renick and her former boyfriend Michael Humphrey admitted they were together at the penitentiary facility the night Ben Renick was murdered in New Florence, Missouri were.
Humphrey was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2021 but then struck a deal with prosecutors for a lesser charge in exchange for testifying against Lynlee and leading police to the murder weapon.
The investigation went on for over two years before another former friend of Lynlee Renick told police investigators that she had admitted to her husband’s murder.