Maurice Hawkins filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Thursday, April 23, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, less than three weeks after he won WSOP Circuit Elgin Event #3: $400 NLH for $17,419 and captured his record 24th ring. The filing, made through attorney Michael A. Kaufman, came as Hawkins was sitting on nearly $7 million in lifetime tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob and $217,254 already this year.
The move lands in the middle of a fight over money Hawkins owes Randy Garcia. Hawkins publicly agreed to pay Garcia $2,500 by the 30th of every month until $30,000 was repaid, but he allegedly stopped making the payments after just a few months. The final judgment against Hawkins in the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, Florida, was for $115,828, a six-figure debt Garcia has been trying to collect.
Hawkins’ recent results underscore why the filing drew immediate attention. He earned $853,068 in tournament winnings in 2024 and $741,937 in 2025, then added a ring in Elgin before the bankruptcy petition was docketed as case 26-15116-EPK. He also chopped the Gulf Coast Poker Beau Rivage Heater Event #6: $500 Triple Stack NLH for $80,944 and won the WSOPC Tunica Event #2: $400 Mini Main for $35,146. On social media, Hawkins has sounded defiant, writing, “I win every trip I go on, check my hendon. I have more disposable income, than your regular income. I live rent free in your mind,” and later, “All, I have to say is ‘Happy New Year.’ This will Be my Biggest year. It’s nothing your words, posts and ill intent against me. Can do about it.”
That confidence collided with a practical problem on the ground. PokerNews learned from a source on-site in Tunica that Hawkins had cashed a tournament but was allegedly unable to collect because of a garnishment tied to Garcia’s effort to recover the debt. Attorney Rogen Chhabra said the bankruptcy filing is a speedbump in that collection effort, though he said there is still a chance to fight it by showing Hawkins is not actually bankrupt and is fraudulently taking advantage of the system. Hawkins then challenged Shaun Deeb to a $100,000 bet online and posted, “Some people talk, and then some people do. Let’s eat 2026….. Plus 80k HIGH Hater. This is for those I told, I would make the salary in one week. This one is for you.”
Chapter 7 can erase most unsecured debts within three to six months, according to the IRS, which is why the filing matters now: it could slow or block Garcia’s collection push just as the garnishment was already affecting Hawkins’ cashes. The question is no longer whether Hawkins can keep winning tournaments; it is whether the bankruptcy court will let those winnings stay out of reach of the judgment he has been trying to unwind.