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Top 10 worst athletes to ask for financial advice

With tax day quickly approaching, Real Clear Sports.com complied a list of the top 10 worst athletes to ask for financial advice.

Here is the top 3:

3. Michael Vick
So, how did Vick go from one of the highest paid athletes to owing millions? To start, there’s the entourage. Vick was spending about $300,000 a month to support friends and family. But the biggest factor was who was in control of his money. Vick entrusted his money to a woman who is banned from working with any firm that trades on the NYSE because she bilked two old women out of $150K and a man who’s been accused of defrauding church members. His finances were such a mess that the bankruptcy judge appointed a trustee to help him out.

Vick owes over a million dollars in back taxes and it was recently discovered that he took funds from the pension plans of some of his employees. But if you are beginning to feel sorry for Vick, (“Then you’re not a dog lover”!) don’t. To pay off some of the debt, Vick will be selling three of his SIX homes. That’s less than one home per season. Do you really expect Vick to summer in Virginia? Do you?

2. Latrell Sprewell
In August of 2007, a federal marshal seized his $1.5 million yacht after Sprewell had failed to pay his mortgage on the boat. The yacht, with the classy name, Milwaukee’s Best, was auctioned in early 2008.

Oh well, at least Sprewell would still have his home in River Hills, Wisconsin. That is, until it was foreclosed on in May of last year. So, let’s see, he lost his yacht and his house. It can’t get much worse. Oh, and now Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit for unpaid taxes. Hopefull Sprewell isn’t expecting a big refund this year.

1. Mike Tyson
In 2003, he filed for bankruptcy. His debt reached over $27 million, about half of which was to the IRS. Maybe he shouldn’t have bought the two Bengal tigers for $140,000, for which he also had to pay a trainer $125,000 a year. Although, that’s just a small drop in the bucket. He could’ve cut back on his motor vehicles, on which he spent about $4.5 million. But perhaps the most inane purchase? How about a bathtub for his first wife, Robin Givens, that cost $2 million dollars.

Tyson could’ve gotten his finances in order had he won the $100 million lawsuit against Don King (he was suing his former boxing promoter for cheating him out of millions in promotions), but the parties reached a settlement of $14 million, of which Tyson saw none. All of the money went to paying down his debt.

When you figure that most of these athletes never seek out sound legal and financial advice, it’s easy to see how they blow through wads of money in a very short period of time. They just think that money will always come in and they don’t have to worry about anything long-term. How Vick blew through all his money is still beyond me.

Vick could move to halfway house soon

According to Michael Vick’s lawyer, the suspended NFL quarterback could move to a halfway house ‘any day’ now.

Michael Vick“He’s in the process of being released to the halfway house,” attorney Paul Campsen told Judge Frank Santoro. “We expect it to occur any day.”

But the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not given Vick’s attorneys a specific date for the move, which Campsen said could occur with only “a day or so” notice.

Vick is serving a 23-month sentence at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy. He is scheduled for release July 20 but could serve the last few months of his term at a halfway house in Newport News, his hometown.

“We believe he is ultimately going to be reinstated by the NFL,” said another Vick bankruptcy attorney, Michael Blumenthal.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not said whether he will lift Vick’s suspension after his release. Vick once was the league’s highest-paid player before his indictment and guilty plea left both his finances and his reputation in tatters. He filed for bankruptcy protection in July, claiming assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million.

Papers filed in his bankruptcy case show exceptionally poor management of Vick’s fortune, including lavish and often unexplained spending and an array of questionable investments. The case has been complicated by poor record keeping and Vick’s sketchy knowledge of where his money was going.

Santoro said Vick’s finances could be “charitably described as in freefall” when he filed his bankruptcy petition.

Vick’s freefall must be one of the biggest in celebrity history. Not only did this guy get locked up for running a dog fighting scandal in his backyard, but he also blew all of his money and now is bankrupt. Did he just think that money was going to fall out of the sky whenever he needed it? What a disaster.

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