Seven largest Vick creditors owed about $12.8 million


RICHMOND, Va. -- 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.



Will Michael Vick ever play in the NFL again?
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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.


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 suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback "will seek to rebuild his life and career" upon his release, according to the filings.



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.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Is it wrong to laugh ?

Mach said:

Not at a dumbass like Vick.

Didn't he earn at least $40 million before he went in??? How do you blow all that money in such a short time???? Dumbass. No better for him.

SCNDLS said:

Unreal. Some people just don't know what 2 do with money.

Mach said:

I hope it's not wrong to giggle either.

Meanwhile...some others are thriving!


Michael Vick's pit bulls get a second chance
Rehabilitated fighting dogs may alter breed stereotype

By BRIGID SCHULTE / Washington Post

Published on: 07/08/08

When former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to run a dogfighting operation, he had kept about 50 pit bulls on his 15-acre property in rural Surry County, Va. Headlines described the dogs as "menacing." Some animal rights groups called for the "ticking time bombs" to be euthanized as soon as Vick's case was closed.

Instead, the court gave Vick's dogs a second chance. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ordered each dog to be evaluated individually. And he ordered Vick to pony up close to $1 million to pay for the lifelong care of those that could be saved.


Of the 49 pit bulls animal behavior experts evaluated, only one was deemed too vicious to warrant saving and was euthanized.

More than a year after being confiscated from Vick's property, Leo, a tan, muscular pit bull, visits cancer patients as a certified therapy dog in California. Hector, who bears deep scars on his chest and legs, recently was adopted and is about to start training for national flying disc competitions in Minnesota. Gracie is a couch potato in Richmond, Va., who lives with cats and sleeps with four other dogs.

Of the 47 surviving dogs, 25 were placed directly in foster homes, and a handful have been or are being adopted. Twenty-two were deemed potentially aggressive toward other dogs and were sent to an animal sanctuary in Utah. Some, after intensive retraining, are expected to move on to foster care and eventual adoption.

How is it that some of these abused and reputedly vicious dogs can find new lives as pets? Frank McMillan, a veterinarian who is studying the recovery of some of the Vick dogs, said too little is known about pit bulls to say for sure.

"We've assumed all pits are the same, and we've never let this many fighting dogs live long enough to find out. There are hardly ever studies, because these animals don't survive," he said.

Aggression vs. isolation

Evaluators said that when they walked into the kennels where the Vick dogs were being held, they weren't sure what to expect.

"I thought, if we see four or five dogs that we can save, I'll be happy," said Randy Lockwood, an animal behaviorist with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "If we had to euthanize the majority, then we could at least say we'd tried."

Instead, they found dogs with behaviors that ran the gamut. Some "actually seemed happier around other dogs," said Rebecca Huss, a law professor and animal law expert who was appointed by the court to oversee the evaluations and determine the dogs' fates.

Once it became clear that the dogs might be allowed to live, evaluators gave them names: Iggy, Zippy, Cherry Garcia, Hazel, Little Red, Uba, Squeaker, Big Fella, Handsome Dan, Ginger, Ernie, Alf.

"One of the things that struck us immediately was that these dogs were more like the dogs we see rescued from animal hoarding situations," Lockwood said. "Their main problem was not aggressiveness but isolation."

Of Vick's dogs, 22 showed enough aggression that they could be held only at the tightly controlled sanctuary Best Friends Animal Society's 3,700-acre Dogtown sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. There, McMillan, the veterinarian, has developed a "personalized emotional rehabilitation plan" for each.

All but two are now on "green collar," meaning they are open and friendly to human visitors. About nine have begun to have supervised play dates with other Vick dogs.

The remaining Vick dogs were given to seven animal rescue organizations across the country, which placed them in experienced foster homes. Many are in the process of being adopted.

Changing the stereotype

Sharon Cornett, a member of the Richmond, Va., Animal League's board, agreed to foster Gracie and is now adopting her. "I adore this dog. She is just a love bucket," Cornett said.

Still, Cornett and other pit bull rescuers say that they never leave the dogs unsupervised with other animals.

John Goodwin, a dogfighting expert with the Humane Society and a proponent of euthanizing fight dogs, is skeptical of the emerging reports of the Vick dog recoveries.

"The behavior is bred into them," he said. "... These pit bulls should never be left alone with other dogs, because you never know when that instinct to fight another dog is going to surface."

Tim Racer, who took in 10 Vick dogs, disagrees.

"You have 150 years of man trying to produce an aggressive dog. But you have tens of thousands of years of Mother Nature preceding that," he said. "Dogs are pack animals. They survived because of their pack. ... It's hard-wired into their genes that they do no harm to each other."

Indeed, long before a glowering pit bull came to symbolize tough guy vogue, pit bulls were the all-American dog. In the Civil War era, they were known as nurse dogs because they were so good with children. Pit bulls sold war bonds, earned medals in World War I and starred in such TV shows as "The Little Rascals."

All the more reason, Racer and other rescuers say, to look at each dog individually.

"Every thoroughbred is not a great racehorse. Every pit bull, even if it's of fighting stock, is not an aggressive dogfighter," said Steve Zawistowski, an animal behaviorist with the ASPCA who helped assess the Vick dogs. "There are no simple answers."


http://www.ajc.com/pets/c...pdate.html

WOW

Mach said:

I've been reading up on these doggies since they were rescued...and they are truly a success story.

applekisses said:

That's good to hear

applekisses said:

I don't know...don't trust that breed at all. Agressive dogs + idiot owners = disaster.

As for Vick? Man, professional athletes/celebrities have to be the dumbest MFers on the planet. Is it THAT hard to manage your money, even if it's millions?

uPtoWnNY said:

No it's not but some people just can't handle any money over $200.00

Graycap23 said:

You have a unique gift, you work hard, beat the odds and become a pro athlete/actor/rockstar, whatever. You wind up making millions doing something 99% of the population can't do, then you piss it all away. Sh!t drives me nuts!

uPtoWnNY said:

They are really great dogs. I've never had problems with a pit. But it all depends on the owner.

applekisses said:

Awwwww.

uPtoWnNY said:

It really is hard 2 understand. Mind boggling even.....

Stymie said:

Aren't they so sweet?!

Mach said:

I'm not sure why this is a good thing. It's not as if he's broke. I just downloaded a copy of his bankruptcy petition from the court, and he also claims to have $10 to $50 million in assets. Further, he's disputing that he owes several of his large debts (the $3.75 million to the Falcons, the $4.5 million to Joel Enterprises, and the $550,0000 to Radtke Sports).

Basically, what he's doing here is temporarily stopping his creditors in their tracks while he puts together a single reorganization plan for all of his debts. The plan can reduce or eliminate debts, give him more favorable repayment terms, and cancel contractual obligations, among other things. And unlike a Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy -- which is what most people would file -- a Chapter 11 bankruptcy usually doesn't involve a trustee taking control of the bankruptcy estate. The end result is that he'll benefit from this.

matt said:

I think Mach was applauding the successful rehabilitation of the pit bulls.

SCNDLS said:

My bad.

Still, others were laughing or giggling at the original post. As I said before, if people are happy because they think he's broke, they're mistaken. Bankruptcy isn't exactly fun, but when you've been thrown in prison and have threatened and actual lawsuits against you, filing for BK is kinda like dropping a nuclear bomb on your creditors, litigation threats, and any actual lawsuits.

Since Vick is a debtor-in-possession and will be running the bankruptcy estate instead of having a court-appointed trustee, he'll have plenty of time to read the Bankruptcy Code in the prison law library. Sure, he's got lawyers who know that stuff, but if Vick wants to play an active part, there's plenty of reading he should do. And if nothing else, it'll pass the time.

matt said:

I think he's using bankruptcy as a ruse to avoid paying his debts since he currently has no income, which I don't think he should be allowed to do. And just a guess here, but I don't think reading and comprehension are Mike's strongsuits.

SCNDLS said:

Fixed your quote for you.

uPtoWnNY said:

Thanks, but I also forgot common muthafuckin sense. Oh and at least you don't have to worry about some chick he marries and divorces taking all his loot since the government's going to get it first.
[Edited 7/9/08 6:48am]

Does this mean Ron Mexico is broke, too?