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Bankruptcy in Store for Michael Vick?

After putting his multi-million dollar home in Duluth, Georgia up for sale at the end of October in the midst of his legal and financial problems following his guilty plea to federal dogfighting charges, disgraced NFL quarterback Michael Vick reportedly turned around and bought a condo in an expensive high rise in Miami. To complicate matters, there is speculation that the purchase is a sign that bankruptcy could be on the way for Vick.

A New York Post story detailed that Vick, who can not leave the state of Virginia, bought the pad in the same luxury high rise in which current Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade owns a condo shortly after putting his seven-bedroom homeroom in Georgia on the market for $4.5 million.

To some people, Vick's purchase was confusing, especially when considering his mounting legal and financial problems:

• On September 20th, Royal Bank of Canada filed a lawsuit against Vick seeking more than $2.3 million from the former football superstar. The lawsuit claimed that Vick defaulted on a real estate loan in that amount when he failed to meet a September 10th deadline to repay it.
• On September 26th, 1st Source Bank filed a lawsuit seeking $2 million from Vick and Divine Seven LLC, an Atlanta car rental company in which Vick is its chief financial officer. The lawsuit claimed that the company refused to pay for at least 130 vehicles that Vick signed loan agreements for.
• Throughout all of this mess, the Atlanta Falcons have been seeking repayment of a $20 million signing bonus given to Vick when he signed a 10-year, $130 million deal with the team in 2004. The Falcons have claimed that Vick's involvement in his Bad Newz Kennels operation was in violation of his contract, and an arbitrator agreed, stating that Vick should repay more than $19 million of the bonus. However, the case is far from over, with the NFL Players Association to appeal the ruling.

With all this considered, how could Vick be buying a home in Florida? This question has been addressed by some people who have suggested that Vick may be filing bankruptcy in Florida.

Speculation surfaced in the blogosphere that Vick purchased the Miami condo with the plan of eventually filing bankruptcy. These reports indicated that Florida bankruptcy laws would make it easier for Vick to keep a home in the Sunshine State as opposed to doing so in the Peach State under Georgia bankruptcy laws . Such speculation cited a past Wall Street Journal depicting how Florida has historically been an ideal destination for debtors to run and take advantage of the lenient bankruptcy laws in the state.

Whether Vick is planning to file bankruptcy is true or just speculation remains to be seen, but Total Bankruptcy will keep you updated on the latest developments in this ongoing saga.

Vick, who has been indefinitely suspended by the NFL, will learn of his sentencing in December for his guilty plea. So while Vick may have a new luxury pad in Miami, he could very well have to get used to a prison cell for quite some time; a possibility that animal rights' activists would certainly be fine with.

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