Discount Website Files Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Written by CFB Blogger. Posted in Blog

The website Hukkster has recently filed for Chapter 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The startup company helped online shoppers purchase goods by sending email notices when retailers reduced their prices. In their bankruptcy filing, Hukkster listed assets of less than $500,000 and debt of approximately $1.6 million. The debt includes the repayment of $1.5 million in unsecured loans that it borrowed in the first quarter of 2014, as well as payments to vendors and about $34,000 owed to the lawfirm of Cooley LLP. Hukkster’s two founders, Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell, aver that they are owed each $6,300 for unused vacation time and unpaid wages. The value of the company most likely will not approach the several million dollars in investments it raised since its 2012 founding by the two former retail consultants, Finnegan and Bell, reports Sara Randazzo for The Wallstreet Journal. During the last two years, the discount shopping site received a flurry of media attention after the *Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, invested $1.77 million in the company. The twin’s investment firm, Winklevoss Capital, received 19.4% equity in Hukkster from the venture. In a November 2012, interview with the New York Times, the Winklevoss brothers said, “’I have to say the emotional charge of getting one of these alerts is pretty awesome!’” According to a story in the Hollywood Reporter, Hukkster, which made money off of referral fees from retailers, notified users by email on August 1 that the website would be shutting down. BuzzFeed reported that a “dispute between the Winklevoss twins and the company’s debt holders over a proposed buyout may have contributed to Hukkster’s abrupt end”. If you are considering filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy due to extreme financial distress, please call us right away. The Client First Bankruptcy attorneys are among the most knowledgeable consumer bankruptcy attorneys in the U.S., representing thousands of clients in consumer bankruptcy matters. Call us toll-free at 800-383-6004 Monday thru Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Central Time. For vital information on filing your personal Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy anytime, log onto our easy-to-navigate, interactive website at www.clientfirstbankruptcy.com. *The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, are internet entrepreneurs best-known for co-founding HarvardConnection , renamed as ConnectU, along with Harvard classmate Divya Narendra. In 2004, the brothers sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for $65 million, claiming he stole their idea to create the popular social networking site, Facebook. They are now venture capitalists and have led a seed-funding round for Bitcoin payment processor BitInstant. In April 2013, the twins claimed to own almost 1% of all Bitcoin in existence at that time. (source: Wikipedia)