In the midst of all the stories highlighting the reckless spending habits of athletes and their financial woes, we need to take a second to acknowledge Michael Vick. Vick paid his $17.6 million debt to dozens of creditors— including Bank of America and BMW financial services—back in November, according to ESPN. TMZ Sports now reports that a judge has officially closed his bankruptcy case.
Vick filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2008, claiming he owed somewhere in the range of $10 million to $50 million to creditors.
Following an 18-month prison sentence for his role in an illegal dogfighting ring, Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles before bouncing around from the New York Jets to the Pittsburgh Steelers over the following six seasons. When his professional football career came to an end, FOX Sports came calling with an opportunity for Vick to appear on FOX NFL Kickoff , the lead-in to FOX NFL Sunday , as well as stints on several FOX Sports 1 programs.
ESPN spoke with Joseph Luzinski, a senior vice president at Development Specialists Inc., a management consultation firm and the liquidating trustee in Vick's bankruptcy. He praised Vick for his commitment to paying off the creditors. "Paying 99 cents on the dollar, which he did, is remarkable," Luzinski said. "It happens in, maybe, one out of 100 cases."
