Investors take tech firm to bankruptcy court
By John Duchemin
Advertiser Staff Writer
Insolvent WorldPoint, already the target of a state lawsuit, has now been pushed into bankruptcy court by petitioners who want a trustee to investigate the company's finances.
A family of Japanese investors in WorldPoint filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, seeking to recoup the more than $4.8 million in convertible debt they invested in the Honolulu-based online translation company.
WorldPoint president Massimo Fuchs said yesterday that he doubts the creditors, Hiroshi and Mima Teramachi and their daughter, Sanae Koyata, will be able to get any money. Fuchs said all of WorldPoint's assets will likely go to secured creditors including the state, which has sued the company for failing to repay debt and interest of more than $800,000.
WorldPoint has auctioned off all its equipment. The proceeds of about $100,000 are in escrow pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
"All the legal assets WorldPoint has left are encumbered by the state of Hawai'i," Fuchs said. "There's nothing left beyond that."
But the petitioners' attorney, Robert K. Matsumoto, said one goal of the bankruptcy filing is to get a court-appointed trustee to determine whether any other assets still exist.
The Teramachis and Koyata were among investors who put about $13 million in convertible debt into WorldPoint. They are also involved in a rent dispute lawsuit and countersuit with Fuchs, who is their tenant in an 'Aina Haina home.
Once one of Honolulu's most aggressively expanding technology companies, WorldPoint early last year had more than 100 employees and lavishly appointed offices in the penthouse suite of downtown high-rise 1132 Bishop St.
But the costs and debts of expansion outpaced revenues, and by summer the company had fired all its employees and closed its offices. The company, whose staff now includes only Fuchs and chairman and founder Larry Cross, still maintains a Web site. But Fuchs said WorldPoint won't do business until the court claims are settled.
