Vick's money woes continue
Back in September of 2007, First Source Bank of South Bend sued Michael Vick because they said that he, along with Divine Seven of Atlanta, a company Vick owns, failed to repay loans they had taken out for a car rental business, according to ESPN.com. First Source Bank of South Bend said that it had suffered damages of up to nearly $2 million, but the lawsuit did not specify the exact amount they would request in damages.
Vick has also had his troubles with a Canadian bank, Royal Bank of Canada. It also sued Vick back in September of 2007 in federal court in Virginia for nearly $2.3 million. According to the bank, Vick had said he was going to use the money for real estate investments but eventually defaulted on the loan.
According to ESPN.com, Vick had signed loan agreements as the chief financial officer of Divine Seven. After Vick signed the loan agreements, he was able to buy nearly 130 cars for his car rental business. Vick received the loans for those cars from First Source Bank. Vick and his company, Divine Seven of Atlanta, refused to pay those loans back to First Source Bank. Because of the fact that Vick and his company failed and refused to pay back those loans, First Source Bank was able to repossess many of the cars Vick had purchased with the original loan money.
Vick also had troubles with a Wachovia bank in Charlottesville, Va. Vick and fellow business partner, Gerald Frank Jenkins, had used a $1.3 million loan to open a wine store and restaurant, according to CBSNews.com. A default judgment of $1.08 million was entered in January of 2008. Vick and partner Jenkins had failed to pay back their loan for opening up the wine and restaurant business.
Vick's troubles don't end with the banks. Even the Atlanta Falcons had gone after him. Vick, who had an estimated $20 million in bonuses from Atlanta, was being sued by the organization because it felt it should get the money back after Vick pled guilty to dog-fighting charges. The bonuses were paid to Vick between the years 2004 and 2007.
According to CBSNews.com, the Falcons felt that its organization should be entitled to recover all of the money it had paid to Vick because it believed that he had used it to finance his illegal dog-fighting business. However, a U.S. District judge felt that once the Falcons had given Vick the bonus and once he had become part of the team's 80-man roster, they could not ask Vick to forfeit the money. The judge said that it would violate the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, which states that a player who has already performed on the field cannot be asked to forfeit the money in later time. Therefore, the judge ruled in Vick's favor and he was able to keep all of that money except for $3.5 million.
If he ever does return to the NFL, Vick's future most likely will not be with Atlanta. The Falcons recently invested around $70 million in first overall pick and former Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan, and it now appears that he is the new face of the franchise. Former Falcons head coach and now Seattle Seawhawks defensive backs coach Jim Mora briefly discussed Vick's future in Atlanta with Sports Illustrated last August saying, "I don't have any inside information to base this on, but he is not going back to Atlanta. It would be too difficult a situation."
