Vick files revised bankruptcy plan in federal court

By Larry O'Dell

RICHMOND

Suspended NFL star Michael Vick would keep one vehicle, one home and a large assortment of furniture and personal items if his creditors and the judge who rejected his previous bankruptcy plan approve a revised plan filed Thursday.

The new plan also gives creditors a bigger cut of his future earnings but leaves enough for Vick to live comfortably if he resumes his once-lucrative NFL career.

It would give Vick incentive to return to the National Football League and take responsibility to pay his taxes and expenses, Vick's lawyers wrote in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newport News. Thursday was the deadline for filing the plan.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro has scheduled a hearing on the new proposal for July 31. Santoro in April dismissed Vick's first plan as unworkable and ordered a new one. He suggested that Vick consider liquidating some of the vehicles and one of his two expensive Virginia homes.

Vick now plans to keep a 2007 Infiniti SUV and the house in Hampton where he is serving the final two months of his nearly two-year sentence on home confinement. In August 2007, Vick pleaded guilty to operating a dogfighting ring and was suspended indefinitely by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Vick is scheduled to be released from federal custody July 20.

Goodell has said he will review Vick's status after he is released but has not given a specific timetable.

Unlike the previous bankruptcy plan, the new one would give creditors 10 percent of the first $750,000 a year Vick earns, ensuring that they will get part of his future paychecks even if he doesn't make it back into the NFL. The plan rejected by Santoro would have allowed Vick to keep the first $750,000.

Creditors would get a larger slice of any Vick income over that amount, ranging from 25 percent to 40 percent on a sliding scale. The 40 percent cut would kick in at an earnings level of more than $10 million, which could be a stretch for a 29-year-old quarterback who hasn't played since the 2006 season.

In exchange for the bigger cuts of Vick's future earnings, a committee representing his unsecured creditors agreed to allow Vick to keep more furnishings, including items from a Duluth, Ga., home that is being sold. The plan includes a detailed list of items, from a toaster to a Mrs. Pacman arcade game from the home's bar.

Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, once was the NFL's highest-paid player. Court papers show that he squandered a fortune on bad business deals and lavish spending. Vick listed assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million when he filed his Chapter 11 petition in July 2008.