RICHMOND, Va. (AP)—The trustee in Michael Vick’s(notes) bankruptcy case is seeking repayment of at least $2 million that the NFL quarterback doled out to friends and family members in the months before he was sent to federal prison for running a dogfighting operation.
A complaint filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newport News says Vick knew his lucrative career was in jeopardy and that he would be facing huge legal bills, yet he continued to shower friends and relatives with gifts and cash. Those assets, trustee Joseph J. Luzinski argues, should have gone to Vick’s creditors.
Attorneys for both Vick and the trustee say such filings are not unusual in complicated Chapter 11 cases like Vick’s.
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“We are not suing Mike Vick or accusing Mike Vick of fraud,” said Luzinski’s attorney, Ross Reeves. “This is about the proper distribution of assets Vick had before his bankruptcy.”
Vick’s bankruptcy attorney, Paul Campsen, called the filing “a garden-variety attempt to collect money.” He said Vick fully disclosed the transfers, did nothing wrong and will continue to cooperate with the bankruptcy court.
Vick claimed about $20 million in debt when he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2008, while he was serving a 23-month sentence at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. Last summer, a bankruptcy judge approved a plan that allows Vick to keep $300,000 of his $5.2 million salary from the Philadelphia Eagles with the rest going to creditors"
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