Axium Ensemble Chimes Claims Bankruptcy

Axium bankruptcy strands hundreds of La. film workers without pay
Posted by Milena Merrill January 10, 2008 12:39PM
Categories: Breaking News
One of Hollywood's largest entertainment payroll companies -- Axium International Inc. -- abruptly ceased operation and will not make be able to make this week's payroll to hundreds of Louisiana film workers. Many IATSE movie mechanics, Teamsters and others returning to the set of Sony Picture's Jack Black-starrer Year One set to shoot in Shreveport, were told today that their paychecks are delayed due to the liquidation and bankruptcy of the production company's payroll service. Axium, the third largest entertainment payroll company simultaneously shutdown of offices in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Burbank, London and Vancouver. According to the Chapter 7 petition filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, the company claims it does not have the liquidity to continue operating. The company did return calls placed by Nola.com to their Los Angeles or Burbank offices.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, many Axium clients who were required to deposit a percentage of payroll amounts to be processed by the Los Angeles company may not see return of their money anytime soon. The article says that court-appointment bankruptcy trusteed, Howard Ehrenberg does not anticipate refund of any monies to production companies "in the immediate future."
Ehrenberg told the Los Angeles Times that Axium's largest creditor, Golden Tree Asset Management, a New York investment firm, seized $22 million from company accounts that had secured a $140-million loan on which Axium defaulted.
"The timing couldn't have been worse as most of us have just spent the two week imposed hiatus celebrating the holidays at home with our families. The production company didn't pay us for the two-week break. They were supposed to pay us for drive time and per diem before we left for the holidays, but that didn't happen. None of this pay was reflected in the paycheck for the last week before the break -- and now everyone is on edge waiting for payroll to come through," a carpenter on Year One told Nola.com.