The financial collapse of the Grand Slam Track league took another turn Monday when three vendors asked a bankruptcy court for permission to file a $25-million lawsuit against the league’s leadership and its primary investor.
The creditors allege Olympic champion Michael Johnson committed fraud and claim the league’s primary investor, Winners Alliance, contributed to the organization’s financial downfall.
According to the filing, Johnson made a $500,000 payment to himself in June 2025 while the league was already facing mounting financial pressure.
Grand Slam Track entered bankruptcy in December after struggling to repay athletes and vendors following its brief three-meet 2025 season. Court documents filed earlier this year show the league carries more than $40 million in debt while generating less than $2 million in revenue in 2025.
The creditors’ committee is comprised of three companies that provided services to the league: broadcast partner Momentum-CHP Partnership, graphics company Girraphic Park, and former public relations firm SRK Strategies. They say the league owes them approximately $3 million, $690,000, and $248,000, respectively.
The latest motion follows a sharply worded filing last week in which the creditors rejected Grand Slam Track’s proposed bankruptcy plan. Under that proposal, athletes would receive about 85 per cent of the money owed to them, while other creditors would recover roughly 1.5 per cent.
In their objection, the creditors stated that the league’s leadership demonstrated “shocking levels of incompetence, bad faith, self-dealing and failures to fulfill its fiduciary duty,” arguing that the proposal violates core principles of U.S. bankruptcy law.
Grand Slam Track responded on Tuesday, saying the creditors’ objection “reeks of desperation” and represents an attempt to derail the league’s efforts to confirm its restructuring plan.
As part of their effort to pursue claims against Johnson and Winners Alliance, the creditors disclosed additional information obtained through discovery.
The filing challenges Johnson’s public statements that he invested millions of dollars of his own funds into the league and lost money on the project. Documents cited by the committee show two written notes indicating the league owed Johnson repayment—first for $1.5 million and later for more than $2.2 million.
However, the creditors say there is “no documentation” showing Johnson contributed funds tied to the first note, and that the league has produced no additional evidence confirming further personal investment.
