Michael Vick has proven himself to be what myself and

Oct 15, 2015, 9:32 AM

others never thought he could

Great story that goes against the usual negative narrative

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/how-much-does/michael-vick-verge-pulling-off-financial-victory-no-one-predicted/

In the early to mid-2000s, Michael Vick was one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. His running style of football was unheard of at the time. he ran for nearly 4,000 yards in six seasons, and led the Atlanta Falcons to the playoffs twice, winning a game each year. He signed a huge contract and started to live large. Very large.

As we all know, in July 2008 Vick found himself locked up at Leavenworth prison after being convicted of some horrendous crimes against animals. Not only was he locked up, he was also forced to file for bankruptcy protection thanks to the roughly $18 million he owed to a variety of creditors. With no more NFL money coming in, Michael was earning just 12 cents an hour mopping floors at Leavenworth. FYI, paying off $18 million on a salary of 12 cents per hour will take 60 thousand years.

Vick ended up serving 548 days in jail for taking part in an illegal dogfighting ring. He even returned to the NFL, as a member of the Eagles, in 2010. He actually won Comeback Player of the Year that same season. But perhaps most shocking of all, Vick is on the verge of paying off the entire $18 million owed to his creditors. This is especially incredible because Michael easily could have simply walked away from the debt. He instead chose to honor his (literal) obligations.

Since returning to the NFL in 2010, Vick has earned $49 million over five years. But before he signed that first comeback contract, Michael had a very distinct choice to make. He could file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and walk away from all his debts, or file for Chapter 11 and honor every penny. Michael chose Chapter 11.

Let's repeat that. Michael had the option to file for Chapter 7, in which case the majority of his $18 million debt would have been completely forgiven. But he instead went out of his way to keep those debts active.

How did that risky decision turn out? To date, Michael has paid off more than $15 million, roughly 85%, of the $17.8 million he owes! And there is still a real estate asset that will be sold in the coming months which is expected to bring down the debt down even further. The sale of that asset might even be enough money to pay off his entire remaining balance.

Of course, Vick has had his doubters over the years. Most notably his former team. In March 2009, Vick agreed to pay back The Falcons $6.5 million in salary. Doubting they'd ever see anything from him, in 2011 the team sold its liability at a big discount to Fortress Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Wesley Edens, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. Vick ended up paying off every cent of the debt he owed.

In order to pay off his creditors, Vick has been living on a $300,000 a year budget. More than 50% of what he's made since mounting his comeback has gone to taxes and legal fees. Anything leftover is being put into savings.

While Vick will return to his normal lifestyle in the new year, he says he won't spend money like he used to. He realizes he doesn't need to buy things like boats, but as a self-proclaimed car guy, he'll still buy cars. Let's just hope he gets a good deal on them.

So at what point do we forgive Michael Vick? Or has that already happened?

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

I'm in my 2nd year of law school and am presently taking the Bankruptcy course (I'm actually sitting in class right now). Don't think that just because he choose chapter 11 over chapter 7 makes him some kind of saint. For one, he might not have had chapter 7 as a real option to him, under the "means test" he might not have qualified for this type of bankruptcy because he might still have had too much income (even while in prison he could have been getting "income" from investments or sponsorship contracts that hadn't expired).

Even if he could have qualified for chapter 7 bankruptcy -- heres the thing -- a lot of wealthy debtors that enter bankruptcy after going through some kind of hardship choose chapter 11 bankruptcy rather than chapter 7 because it "allows them to keep more of their toys." Under chapter 7 all of your assets are liquidated and sold off to pay as much of you debt as possible and then you are immediately discharged from your debts. Under chapter 11 the court allows you to pay to your creditors on a pro rata basis a fraction of what you owe based on your current income. This plan will cover 3-5 years after which point you are discharged from your debt.

If Vick filed chapter 11 bankruptcy at his low point his income would understandably be low, he would be allowed to keep most of his assets, pay back a portion of his debt over the next 5 years and then emerge unencumbered soon after. I don't think he was doing the "moral" thing here, this was just what a rational person would do who intended to best maintain his past lifestyle and retain as many of his cars, property, jewels, and other "toys" as possible.

Michael Vick has proven himself to be what myself and

Re: Michael Vick has proven himself to be what myself and

I will not be forgiving him, but what difference does that

Just curious but why do you find it hard to forgive him?***

Why should I? Forgiveness is for those directly impacted.

Wow! He's slumming it on a $300k/yr "budget"!?

Paying off your debt is very rare. Ask Donald trump .***

I won't forgive him, but absolutely, good for him. That's

Re: Michael Vick has proven himself to be what myself and

I remember this story

Only living off $300,000 a year

True but when you were used to many millions per year...Just

So he borrowed money and is paying it back

Im currently taking Bankruptcy Law in school

Great info. Thanks. Should have known there was more to

^^^ what tnet is all about***

He is ruining my fantasy team!***

vick paid the price for what he did, far disproportionate to

Second Chances Are Rare In This Armchair QB World

TigerBoard POTD