Le'Veon Bell was arrested Sunday afternoon in Canton, Ohio, while attending an autograph signing at Prime Time Sports and Framing near Belden Village Mall, taken into custody on a courtesy hold for Michigan on a warrant related to allegedly unpaid child support exceeding $50,000.
The 34-year-old former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro running back, who has not played in the NFL since 2021, remains in the Stark County Jail pending extradition proceedings.
His attorney Thomas Shaffer pushed back on the circumstances Monday. "Le'Veon is struggling to make support payments which are based on a healthy NFL salary, a salary he's not earned in years," Shaffer told reporters.
He noted that Bell cashed in an NFL pension six months ago to pay $50,000 in child support for one child, only for the cycle to repeat. "This is a revolving door because he pays a number that doesn't reflect his true income. The court needs to reflect his true income."
Bell made approximately $45 million across his NFL career, most of it with the Steelers, where he was a three-time All-Pro from 2014 to 2017 before his famous contract holdout in 2018, and has seven children with six different women.
He has been active in boxing and MMA since retiring from football and has been doing autograph signings across the country to supplement his income.
The child support obligations, still calculated against his NFL earnings, have apparently outpaced what those signings produced.