Michael Vick and that nasty Bankruptcy Tonic

I keep telling athletes: AVOID THE BANKRUPTCY TONIC...ESPECIALLY WHEN IN JAIL. Michael Vick's life is now in shambles, not just because he's in jail in Leavenworth, Kansas, instead of Falcons training camp, but because he made some horrible financial decisions unrelated to dogfighting. ESPN legal expert Lester Munson examines Vick's very troubling financial and legal dealings.

When Vick's back was against the wall, he desperately needed some sound advice...so he turned to Falcon teammate Demorrio Williams, a former Nebraska Cornhusker. (If you could only ask one person in the Falcon organization for financial advice, would it be Demorrio Williams or team owner and billionaire Arthur Blank? Tough call.) After all those wrongs Vick made on his own, Williams tells Vick to go talk to Mary Wong, a business (mis)manager from Omaha. (If I'm getting business advice from someone from Omaha, it better be someone with the last name Buffett.)

According to Munson, it all went downhill from there:

"Wong used a power of attorney from Vick to 'wrongfully remove' at least another $900,000 from his various accounts, according to a document filed by [bankruptcy attorney Peter] Ginsberg. And, court papers also say, Wong 'caused certain business entities owned by [Vick] to be transferred to her.'

"While in the Leavenworth minimum security camp, Vick began to suspect Wong was doing something wrong. He discovered that Wong had been permanently barred from working with any firm that traded on the New York Stock Exchange as the result of taking more than $150,000 from two elderly widows she met while working at Wells Fargo Investments."

Exit Wong, enter David A. Talbot, who began visiting Vick at Leavenworth and somehow convinces Vick and esteemed lawyer Ginsberg and the bankruptcy court that he, Talbot, is the person best suited to solve Vick's legal and financial mounting problems.

According to Munson:

"Using the jargon of the bankruptcy system, Talbot was to be Vick's 'responsible person.' It seemed to be a good idea, as Vick is in jail and unable to tend to his financial situation. But it was yet another bad decision for Vick. Talbot started by taking one of Vick's cars, an $85,000 Mercedes Benz, to use in his efforts, and he used $35,000 to pay the out-of-pocket expenses of his attempts to find Vick's money. That wasn't all. He was to be paid $15,000 per month for his efforts, too."

As you will read in Munson's fine investigative piece, this guy Talbot appears to be a fraud. Besides a whole bunch of false statements on his resume (Exhibit A, your honor: "Talbot client listed on a résumé that Talbot prepared in 2007 is Ron Jensen, a businessman who was CEO of a publicly held insurance company. Jensen died in a car accident in 2005.") So last week Talbot was accused of securities fraud in New Jersey This guy belongs back in Leavenworth. On the same side as Vick. It's pretty low to screw over unsuspecting professional athletes who earn millions. But prospecting jails for clients? To the extent that Hell is a legitimate punishment, please, Dear Devil, reserve a hot spot for this guy. But, like one of those Ron Popeil infomercials, BUT, WAIT, THERE'S MORE. Let's go back to the beginning of Vick's NFL career. In 2001, Andrew Joel signed Vick to an exclusive marketing deal that paid him 25 percent off the top. Competent marketing firms like CAA and Octagon don't not even charge that much. (Heck, Mike Ornstein doesn't charge that much.) Vick fired Joel before he played his first down. Joel sued and eventually got a $4.5 million judgment against Vick.

I am not saying people should feel bad for Michael Vick, but let's hope something good will come of all this.

--Marc Isenberg

Comments

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Wow! What a foolish foolish man. But...I don't understand where his money went? If he only lost 900,000 dollars to Wong then where is the rest of his money at? He must have made some horrible financial decisions prior to his arrest and incarceration.