Animal Planet Features Animal Witness - The Michael Vick Case

Posted on August 19, 2008
Filed Under Pets and Animals, Vick News Videos | Leave a Comment

I just finished previewing the show produced by the Discovery for Animal Planet titled Animal Witness: The Michael Vick Case.  It did an excellent job of walking through the the timeline of the case, interviewing the investigators of the case and delving into the background of dog fighting.  The show will air on August 24th at 10pm eastern and then repeat at several different times on Animal Planet after that.  It is rated TV-14 for violence.

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The show goes in depth into many of the dog fighting practices employed by Michael Vick and his partners.  The details and timeline of events help to paint a very clear picture of when and how things happened.

The documentary does an even better job of detailing the rehabilitation of the Dogs that Michael Vick bred and trained to fight in dog fighting rings across the South East.  The rehabilitation of Vick’s abused dogs has been a topic that we have not covered here at SackVick.net in a great deal of detail.  This documentary walks through the process that was used and even uncovers some interesting new findings as the rehab groups and efforts involved had to learn how to deal with dozens of dogs all at once.  This definitely makes for an uplifting side of the story as you watch just how successful this process was.

That said, this documentary is targeted towards Animal Planet.  It does not delve into the human toll, the suffering and the death of people involved in the dog fighting rings and partnerships associated with Michael Vick.  It is eye opening for the toll on the dogs and animals, some of the primary victims, but does not delve into the victims that were human and were indirectly harmed by the illegal gambling pools, drugs and weapons rings, and other activities that plagued these events and groups, resulting in many more serious crimes and at least one unsolved murder.

It is a good documentary that definitely highlights information that has not been presented before and not been presented as well or as completely in relation to Michael Vick’s dogs and the nature of Pitt Bulls in general.  I would like to see Discovery dig further into these related crimes because many people often just offer up the defense that all Michael Vick did was torture and kill his own dogs.  They don’t recognize the other crimes that were committed against actual people as a result of the illegal activity and criminals that were involved in Michael Vick’s dog fighting rings.

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After Moving to Bankruptcy Friendly Florida - Vick Files to Save his $2 million Miami Condo

Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Major Developments | 3 Comments

Michael Vick, following in the footsteps of other superstars, has finally done the predictable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  As you may recall, he had moved from Georgia to bankruptcy friendly Florida before going to prison in order to shield his assets from creditors.

Now he is hoping that he can get out of paying somewhere between $10 - $50 million dollars, including over $3 million which would have gone to his former team the Falcons and their remaining fan base(Another finger to the fans of Atlanta from Vick).

In addition to raking the Falcons over the coals one more time, Vick is also defaulting on some of his sponsors and business partners.

Under this bankruptcy arrangement, Michael Vick will likely be able to keep most of the funds he’s managed to sock away in ‘retirement’ funds.  He will also be likely to keep his brand new Miami condo, which may have cost over $2 million.

Just like he did on the football field, Michael Vick is ducking, dodging and running away from the consequences of a legal defensive line that is supposed to be there to defend the public of the United States from crooks and cheats, but Vick has found the same obvious opening that so many of the very rich are able to afford when they file for bankruptcy, Florida.  

Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM – 1 hour ago

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

Vick filed Chapter 11 papers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newport News on Monday. The seven largest creditors listed in the court papers are owed a total of about $12.8 million.

The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback hopes he “can, after the conclusion of the bankruptcy case, rebuild his life on a personal and spiritual level, resurrect his image as a public figure, and resolve matters with the NFL such that he can resume his career,” according to the filings.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., after pleading guilty last year to bankrolling a dogfighting ring. He was subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay and lost all his major sponsors, including Nike. He also faces state charges related to dogfighting.

The debt includes part of a signing bonus that the Falcons are seeking to recover.

After the plea on dogfighting charges, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007. But a federal judge held that Vick is entitled to keep all but $3.75 million of the money paid to him for playing football through the 2014 season.

According to the filings, Vick’s other debts include $4.5 million owed to Richmond-based Joel Enterprises Inc., and $550,0000 owed to Radtke Sports Inc. for breach of contract.

In May, a federal judge ordered Vick to repay about $2.5 million to a Canadian bank for defaulting on a loan. The Royal Bank of Canada had sued Vick in September, arguing his guilty plea to a federal dogfighting charge — and the resulting impact on his career — prevented him from repaying the loan.

A default judgment for $1.08 million also was entered in January against Vick and a business partner in a lawsuit brought by Wachovia Bank over a loan for an Atlanta-area wine shop and restaurant.

The Associated Press: Michael Vick files for bankruptcy protection

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Primary Investigator from Virginia Fired - Breaks Silence - Picture of Vick in Bad Newz Kennel Gear Broke the Case

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | 1 Comment

image In a local interview in Virginia, the original investigator on the Michael Vick case has broken his silence.  He has indicated that a picture featuring Michael Vick on his property in Virginia holding “Jane” one of the fighting pit bulls mentioned many times in the case, while wearing clothing and gear with the Bad Newz Kennel logo.

See the Video Here

It would seem that at the end of the day, after the hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsements that Michael Vick received, it was the label of an endorsement from a brand of his own creation that actually brought him down and possibly was the tipping point for his guilty plea.

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State Trial for Michael Vick Set but Could be delayed past April 2

Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | Leave a Comment

The State trial of Michael Vick is still officially set for April 2.  However, it could be pushed back just as similar cases for his co-defendants have been pushed back.  The reason for the delay in the codefendant cases is due to the logistics of moving the prison inmates from prisons in New Jersey and Oklahoma to Virginia.

Michael Vick has a similar problem since he is currently residing in a Kansas prison.

State trials of Vick, co-defendants likely to be delayed | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

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Did Michael Vick Welch on Bet with NFL Contract?

Posted on February 15, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | Leave a Comment

The NFL is trying to get a federal court to vacate and earlier ruling that would have allowed Michael Vick to keep his $16.5 million of his signing bonus.  One of the key aspects of this case and the request hinge on the concept that Michael Vick breached his contract with the Atlanta Falcons by committing a felony (which he admitted guilt to in his plea agreement). That felony and his admission have him sitting in prison where he cannot live up to his agreement.

I ask you, if you committed a felony, and admitted it to a Judge and if you were then sent to prison, would your employer continue to pay your salary while you sat in jail?

The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS —

The NFL is asking federal court to vacate a judge’s ruling allowing suspended quarterback Michael Vick to keep $16.5 million in bonuses.

The NFL also wants to end the jurisdiction of U.S. District Judge David Doty over labor matters.

Doty ruled earlier this month that the Atlanta Falcons would violate the NFL collective bargaining agreement if they tried to recover the roster bonus Vick already received. The league argues that Doty’s public comments show he is biased against them.

Vick is serving a 23-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. After the plea, the Falcons tried to recover about $20 million in bonuses Vick earned from 2004 to 2007.

“Michael Vick breached his contract and cannot play because he was convicted of a felony and is sitting in jail,” the NFL said in a statement. “Despite those facts, the judge held that Vick is entitled to keep nearly $20 million in bonus money paid to him for playing football through the 2014 season.”

The league also questioned whether Doty, who presided during the 1992 antitrust suit that led to the 1993 labor agreement after six years without a contract, should continue to oversee its dealings with the NFL Players Association.

“No other industry has its labor relations supervised by a federal judge in the way we do, and at this point, after 15 years of labor peace, it is hard to understand why such oversight is necessary or (why it is) an appropriate use of judicial resources,” the statement said.

NFL challenges Vick bonus ruling - 02/14/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

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Updated Mission for the Campaign to Sack Michael Vick

Posted on February 12, 2008
Filed Under Minor Developments | 11 Comments

We have updated several of the points in our mission statement.  Our mission has not changed and is not currently fulfilled as there is still an open murder investigation relating to Michael Vick and Michael Vick is still a member of the Falcons and the NFL(temporarily suspended).

Michael Vick is also scheduled to head back to court in a couple months.  We will monitor that trial and look to see if any forward progress can be made on the murder investigation of one of Michael Vick’s partners in the illegal dog fighting ring.

Note - I call the person a partner as he did business with Michael Vick, selling Vick one or more dogs and fighting dogs that he owned against Michael Vick.  As this activity is illegal, it is not technically a business partnership as illegal activity can not be contractually bound.  I use the term partner in the loose sense that they did illegal business together.  In one situation, Michael Vick appears to be a customer of the deceased and in the other (the dog fights) he was the backer of dogs that fought illegally.  I do not have any details as to how money either party won or lost in dog fighting directly with each other before the murder occurred last spring immediately after Vick’s Property was seized.

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Michael Vick Sticks it to the Falcons in the Back From Jail

Posted on February 4, 2008
Filed Under Major Developments | 2 Comments

It was just like old times for Michael Vick today as he won a court victory that stuck it to the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL.  He was allowed to keep the majority of his bonuses despite the fact that he seems to have started breeching his contract within days or weeks of signing with the Falcons.

That will hurt the Falcons in the pocket book and in the line up for sometime to come, but Vick still miraculously hopes to do what’s right to get back in the NFL.  Obviously, he wants to help out some other NFL team not the Falcons as he’s just skewering the Falcons and his old teammates many of whom have doggedly stood up for him as recently as a few weeks ago.

AP) Jailed quarterback Michael Vick can keep all but $3.75 million of the nearly $20 million in bonus money he received from the Atlanta Falcons following a ruling Monday by a federal judge.
The Falcons sought to recover the bonuses after Vick pleaded guilty to federal charges in a dogfighting operation. The bonuses were paid from 2004-07.
A special master ruled in October the Falcons were entitled to recover the bonuses. The Falcons argued Vick used proceeds from a contract he signed in 2004 to finance his illicit activities.
But U.S. District Judge David Doty of Minneapolis ruled that recovery of most of the bonus money by the Falcons would violate the NFL collective bargaining agreement. The agreement does not allow roster bonus money to be forfeited once it’s been earned, the judge wrote.
The NFL criticized Doty’s ruling. The league has suspended Vick indefinitely without pay.
“It makes no sense that an individual who willfully violates his contract is entitled to be paid tens of millions of dollars even though he is in jail and providing no services whatsoever to his employer,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement.
Vick’s personal attorney, Lawrence Woodward Jr., said Vick was happy with the ruling but understands there could be appeals.
“He’s grateful for some good news but he realizes he needs to keep doing all the right things to get back to playing football,” Woodward said.

Judge: Vick Can Keep $16.25M In Bonuses , Judge Rules Jailed Quarterback Michael Vick Can Keep $16.25M In Bonuses From Falcons - CBS News

This decision is bound to hurt Vick’s chances to get back into the NFL on good terms, as he has essentially taken this money and run.  It will increase the power of the NFL players union in the short term, but in the long term the NFL and teams will look very skeptically at paying a big signing bonus for anyone.  Long term agreements will be even more difficult for the NFL to consider.

Now, I have to say it. I do not agree with Michael Vick’s means, but he may have just done the NFL a favor by screwing the league and future big stars out of millions of dollars in signing bonuses.  Maybe when future stars come up (with a lot less money) they will not face the same temptations that Michael Vick faced. 

Let’s just hope that they will have a little more courage and currency in their moral bank accounts.

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