Knicks' Curry ordered to pay $1.2 million debt

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Knicks center Eddy Curry defaulted on a $570,000 personal loan while keeping up a lifestyle that included a $17,000-a-month suburban New York home, a $6,000-a-month personal chef and a dozen cars he'd bought for himself and relatives, a judge said.

On Friday, a Manhattan court ordered Curry to pay $75,000 a month to lender Allstar Capital Inc. to resolve a debt that swelled to $1.2 million with interest. The court also has issued an order letting Las Vegas-based Allstar seize three of the cars: a Rolls Royce Phantom convertible and two Land Rover SUVs, all 2009 models.

Lawyers for both Curry and Allstar said Monday they were headed toward a settlement that would make the order moot. They wouldn't disclose terms.

Curry's lawyer, Mercedes Colvin, would say only that she believed the two sides had reached "a mutually satisfactory resolution of the matter."

Curry earned $10.5 million this season and is scheduled to make $11.3 million next season in the final year of his contract. But the former No. 4 pick in the NBA draft has been dogged by financial and legal problems in recent years.

He took out the $570,000 personal loan in February 2008, promising to pay it back in five months at a nearly 85 percent annual interest rate -- legal in Nevada, according to Allstar lawyer Donald N. David.

Curry argued he couldn't pay off the debt at $75,000 a month because of his existing bills, which include $30,000 a month in household expenses at his family's White Plains, N.Y., home, nearly $17,000 a month in payments to various other relatives and more than $1,000 a month in cable and satellite TV service, according to the court order. It said his wages already are garnished for more than $207,000; the order didn't explain why, and lawyers wouldn't elaborate.

The 7-foot center also suggested the vagaries of his basketball career should keep him from paying, noting his ending contract. State Supreme Court Justice Jane S. Solomon pronounced those concerns "irrelevant."

Curry has played only 10 games over the last two seasons, sidelined by injuries, illness and ineffectiveness.

Much of his time off has been spent fighting legal problems. He was sued by his former limo driver, who alleged verbal abuse and sexual harassment; that case is headed for court-ordered arbitration. He also was drawn into a custody battle over his then 3-year-old son, Noah Henry, after the murder of his former girlfriend last year.

Curry also sued his former agent and business manager after a bank moved to foreclose on Curry's $3.7 million home near Chicago.