Judge Rejects Michael Vick Bankruptcy Plan
Disgraced Football Star Sees Brighter Future, Including A Return To The NFL, But Judge Seeks Specifics
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(AP) Fallen NFL star Michael Vick told a bankruptcy judge Friday that he became a changed man in prison and is determined to do all the right things upon his release from prison, including repaying his creditors with the millions he hopes to resume earning in professional football.
But after more than three hours of testimony in which Vick laid out what he called his "exit strategy," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro
rejected it. Santoro told Vick to draft a new Chapter 11 plan, one with a bit more certainty.
Santoro said there is no guarantee the league will have the 28-year-old player back, and suggested he start on a new plan by considering liquidating one or both of his Virginia homes and three cars he had planned to keep.
A status hearing is set for April 28, but Santoro set no deadline for submission of a new plan.
Vick is pinning his hopes of emerging from financial ruin on returning to the NFL. He remains indefinitely suspended, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not said whether he will reinstate Vick after his July release from the federal penitentiary in Kansas where he is serving a 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy.
Vick's testimony - his first extensive public account of his life since entering prison in November 2007 - offered a glimpse of what he's likely to tell Goodell in his bid for reinstatement.
"I can't live like the old Mike Vick," he said, speaking softly as many of his friends and family members listened in the courtroom.
One of his lawyers, Peter Ginsberg, asked Vick about a note he recently wrote in prison saying he was in good spirits.
"I'm happy where I am because I'm going in a totally different direction," Vick said.
He said his plans include marrying his fiancee next summer and working a $10-an-hour construction job as part of his probation until he can resume his football career.
Vick was once one of the NFL's highest-paid players, but lavish spending and poor investments, coupled with the backlash from his dogfighting case, led to his downfall.
Vick filed for bankruptcy in July claiming assets of $16 million and debts of more than $20 million.
Santoro asked Vick about the likelihood of Goodell lifting the suspension. He said he can only hope that "if I do the right thing - if I keep showing I'm remorseful, show true remorse," the commissioner will give him a second chance. He also told the judge that he thinks he could play in the NFL another 10 to 12 years if reinstated.
