MICHAEL VICK ACCUSED OF STRIPPING PENSION PLAN: Jailed QB accused of withdrawing more than $1.3 million.
Michael Vick got to leave his digs at Leavenworth, Kansas yesterday and travel – accompanied by US Marshalls – to Norfolk, Virginia, where he is scheduled to appear at a court hearing in his bankruptcy case on April 2-3.
In complaints filed Wednesday in federal district and bankruptcy courts in Newport News, the Department of Labor is accusing the imprisoned NFL star of illegally withdrawing more than $1.3 million from a pension plan, according to the Associated Press.
The department says he made a series of prohibited transfers from a pension plan sponsored by MV7, a celebrity marketing company owned by the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback. The department also says the plan assets were partially used to help pay the criminal restitution imposed on Vick after his federal dogfighting conspiracy conviction.
While in Virginia, Vick is being held in a regional jail, said Lisa Berger, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Berger declined to identify the jail.
On March 12, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro ordered Vick’s appearance at the April 2 hearing. He also ordered Vick to pay his own way from the federal prison at Leavenworth, where he is serving a 23-month sentence.
According to Vick’s attorneys, it cost $3,636 to transport Vick from Leavenworth to Surry County, Virginia to plead guilty to state dogfighting charges in November, 2008. Santoro said he wanted Vick to appear in person to assess his credibility.
Vick is expected to return to Leavenworth following his court hearing. He’ll serve the last two months of his sentence under home confinement in Hampton, Va. because there is no room at a halfway house. According to his lawyer Daniel Meachum, Vick will be released to his home on May 20. His scheduled release date remains July 20. He will be on electronic monitoring and allowed to leave home only for activities approved by his probation officer
