The Listworks Corp. filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief Feb. 18 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York in White Plains, NY.
Listworks, Hawthorne, NY, closed Feb. 1. The company was founded in 1982, and in 2003 it reportedly was purchased by a group of investors and three employees, including Walter Monzi, who was president/CEO at the time of the closure.
The court documents feature a list of 402 creditors that reads like a list industry directory, though no dollar amounts owed are included. The creditors include many former Listworks clients and employees.
One creditor's chief financial officer said he had received no correspondence regarding the bankruptcy but that it was expected and his firm is owed money.
“They certainly do owe us money but technically speaking they owe our list owners money,” said Rick Sarli, CFO at Direct Media Inc., Greenwich, CT. He said it would be inappropriate to comment on how much Direct Media is owed on behalf of its clients.
According to the documents, a meeting for creditors will be held April 12 at the court. The case was assigned to Judge Adlai S. Hardin.
Calls to the company's attorney, James Berman of Zeisler & Zeisler, Bridgeport, CT, were not returned by deadline on Friday.
Prior to the bankruptcy filing, companies that owed money to Listworks received a letter from Wells Fargo Bank dated Feb. 9 instructing them to remit payment to Wells Fargo on its behalf.
Several former Listworks clients have chosen new list firms, and several employees have found new jobs in the industry. Even before Listworks closed, employees Lisa Greene and Frank Quaranta left to open Specialized Fundraising Services Inc., Spartanburg, SC, on Jan. 24 and took Greene's brokerage clients with them.
Though Listworks' managed list properties were handled in its Hawthorne, NY, office, SFS has since assumed list management of most of Listworks' nonprofit clients' files.
Kristen Bremner covers list news, insert media, privacy and fundraising for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
