Scandalous refusal to repay up-front debts (9)
I believe the answer is:
notorious
'scandalous' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'refusal to repay up-front debts' is the wordplay.
'refusal' becomes 'no'.
'up front' suggests taking the first letters (the letter at the front of the word).
'debts' becomes 'IOUs' (promises to pay debts).
The initial letter of 'repay' is 'r'.
'no'+'to'+'r'+'ious'='NOTORIOUS'
(Other definitions for notorious that I've seen before include "Undesirably well-known" , "Having a bad name" , "worthy of shame?" , "Disgraceful" , "having a terrible reputation?" .)