After Moving to Bankruptcy Friendly Florida - Vick Files to Save his $2 million Miami Condo

Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Major Developments |

Michael Vick, following in the footsteps of other superstars, has finally done the predictable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  As you may recall, he had moved from Georgia to bankruptcy friendly Florida before going to prison in order to shield his assets from creditors.

Now he is hoping that he can get out of paying somewhere between $10 - $50 million dollars, including over $3 million which would have gone to his former team the Falcons and their remaining fan base(Another finger to the fans of Atlanta from Vick).

In addition to raking the Falcons over the coals one more time, Vick is also defaulting on some of his sponsors and business partners.

Under this bankruptcy arrangement, Michael Vick will likely be able to keep most of the funds he’s managed to sock away in ‘retirement’ funds.  He will also be likely to keep his brand new Miami condo, which may have cost over $2 million.

Just like he did on the football field, Michael Vick is ducking, dodging and running away from the consequences of a legal defensive line that is supposed to be there to defend the public of the United States from crooks and cheats, but Vick has found the same obvious opening that so many of the very rich are able to afford when they file for bankruptcy, Florida.  

Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM – 1 hour ago

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

Vick filed Chapter 11 papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newport News on Monday. The seven largest creditors listed in the court papers are owed a total of about $12.8 million.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback hopes he “can, after the conclusion of the bankruptcy case, rebuild his life on a personal and spiritual level, resurrect his image as a public figure, and resolve matters with the NFL such that he can resume his career,” according to the filings.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., after pleading guilty last year to bankrolling a dogfighting ring. He was subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay and lost all his major sponsors, including Nike. He also faces state charges related to dogfighting.

The debt includes part of a signing bonus that the Falcons are seeking to recover.

After the plea on dogfighting charges, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007. But a federal judge held that Vick is entitled to keep all but $3.75 million of the money paid to him for playing football through the 2014 season.

According to the filings, Vick’s other debts include $4.5 million owed to Richmond-based Joel Enterprises Inc., and $550,0000 owed to Radtke Sports Inc. for breach of contract.

In May, a federal judge ordered Vick to repay about $2.5 million to a Canadian bank for defaulting on a loan. The Royal Bank of Canada had sued Vick in September, arguing his guilty plea to a federal dogfighting charge — and the resulting impact on his career — prevented him from repaying the loan.

A default judgment for $1.08 million also was entered in January against Vick and a business partner in a lawsuit brought by Wachovia Bank over a loan for an Atlanta-area wine shop and restaurant.

The Associated Press: Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection

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Comments

4 Responses to “After Moving to Bankruptcy Friendly Florida - Vick Files to Save his $2 million Miami Condo”

  1. Warner on July 8th, 2008 3:03 pm

    Everyone is entitle to the protection of the bankruptcy court. Its just harder to swallow since it is Vick.

  2. Graham on July 9th, 2008 6:47 pm

    I hope he is fully protected under the law. He worked hard to obtain his wealth and success and deserves to keep some of his benefits he attained in life. How long can a human hate another human for a mistake? He is serving his punishment in Federal prison. Lets take some of this energy and focus on keeping child molesters in prison and away from children with tougher sentances and taking their access away.

  3. doglover332 on July 9th, 2008 7:30 pm

    Hi Graham,
    As the owner of the site, I do not hate Michael Vick, and I do not grudge him his protection under the law, but lets be real. He took close to $50 million from people, and he is now trying to have that money forgiven in bankruptcy.

    If you took $50 million from a bank tomorrow, you’d get in a little more trouble.

    In fact if you tried to have your credit card debt say of $5k forgiven in bankruptcy tomorrow, it wouldn’t even be possible!

    My point is that, I do not feel sorry for Michael Vick. He put himself in this stupid position, and even then he is managing to walk away very very rich at the expense of his fans, his former team, his business partners, his family, his friends and many others.

    Now, if you want to put your money and energy where your comments are, I’d be more than happy to help and support you if you want to buy and setup a website to help focus on keeping child molesters in prison.

    In the meantime, I’m focusing on a less important criminal, but a criminal none the less.

  4. Marsha on September 17th, 2008 12:24 pm

    I am so sick of hearing Vick apologists moan and groan about “child molesters”. YES, child molesters whould get more time in jail. But it is a completely different issue. Instead of comparing the penalties of child molesters and such to Michael Vick, apologists should spend more time writing to their state representatives, making phone calls and such to change the light penalties child molesters are given.

    Should we set all the bank robbers free in prisons because there are child molesters in our society?? I didn’t think so.

    I love this site. I abhor Michael Vick and what he represents. I hope he never gets out of prison. AND I hope he finds himself broke if he does, he deserves to be behind a counter asking if you “want fries with that”.

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