Kevin Garnett could have a very costly divorce ahead of him.
Court documents obtained by TMZ show that the NBA legend’s estranged wife is seeking nearly $200,000 per month in support — with an additional $300,000 for her lawyer fees — as the two work out details of their split. The documents showed that Brandi Garnett wants $146,000 per month in spousal support, plus another $46,000 in child support for the couple’s two daughters. As the report noted, Brandi has primary custody of their children and is with the girls 95 percent of the time.
Brandi claims she is entitled to the roughly $2.3 million per year because Kevin is still pulling in nearly $5 million per year, along with his total NBA earnings of more than $300 million.
Brandi had filed for divorce back in July of 2018 after 14 years of marriage. As TMZ reported at the time, Brandi, whose maiden name is Padilla, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. She also sought physical custody of the couple’s children, while giving Kevin visitation rights.
Kevin was able to amass his fortune through an NBA career that stretched for 21 seasons, thanks to him jumping straight into the league from high school and then playing until the age of 39. As Garnett explained in an interview with Sports on Earth , he also wanted to seize control of his own financial situation.
“No, I do my own contracts now,” Garnett said. “I’ve done the last three on my own. Well, not on my own. I have a financial advisor, Charles Banks, and we work together.”
Kevin Garnett’s Estranged Wife Brandi Seeking Nearly $200k/Month in Support https://t.co/b4IFNxs3lQ
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 3, 2019
But Kevin didn’t always have the best luck with Banks. As Forbes noted, the NBA legend sued an accountant and his firm for allegedly pilfering $77 million of Garnett’s earnings. The lawsuit claimed that accountant Michael Wertheim and the firm Welenken CPAs knew that Banks was removing millions of dollars from Garnett’s account and did nothing to stop it.
Banks was ultimately sentenced to four years in federal prison for defrauding fellow NBA star Tim Duncan out of $6 million, the report noted, and Garnett found that his own money stopped disappearing once Banks was in prison.
“The lawsuit also alleges that Wertheim had an arrangement with Banks in which they limited Garnett’s access to his own money,” the report added.
“The suit cites a 2013 email from Banks to Garnett where Banks denied Garnett’s request for $40,000, claiming Garnett’s finances were in trouble. Banks attributed the suggestion to accounting records provided by Wertheim. Counter to his own advice, Banks allegedly withdrew $2 million from Garnett’s accounts around the same time.”