The legal situation surrounding Minecode, the Bellevue web development company, and its former CEO Pradyumna Samal, is getting messier. At a Feb. 25 creditor meeting on Samal's petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which I attended at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, Samal was questioned repeatedly by creditors and attorneys representing creditors about his assets and business interests in India.

Following that creditor meeting, the U.S. Trustee's office, which is part of the Justice Department, asked the bankruptcy court for an order that Samal and his wife and co-debtor Sagarika be questioned under oath and produce additional documents, noting that "assets were testified about that were not previously disclosed." The court approved the order (pdf, 2 pages).

The U.S. Trustee's office is determining whether it should object to the Samals' bankruptcy discharge — which would release them from personal liability from debts.

Samal and his wife filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 26, listing $930,366 in assets and $13.6 million in liabilities, with a long list of creditors.

Samal did not immediately return a message left at the home phone number he provided to the bankruptcy court at the Feb. 25 creditor meeting. Larry Feinstein, an attorney who initially represented Samal in the bankruptcy case, could not immediately be reached.

Minecode and Saltmine — which once listed Expedia, AT&T and Zumiez as customers — have been at the heart of a long legal saga.

Last year, Samal pleaded guilty to "computer intrusion" for his role in allegedly crippling the website of a client over a contract dispute. At U.S. District Court in Seattle last April, a judge sentenced Samal to 90 days of home confinement, three years' probation, community service and "moral reconation therapy" over the incident, and Minecode itself was ordered to pay a fine and restitution. A Minecode project manager also received a fine and probation in the case.

On Jan. 28, two days after Samal filed for bankruptcy, a group of former employees of Minecode and Saltmine filed a lawsuit against Minecode, Saltmine, and the Samals in King County Superior Court (pdf, 9 pages), alleging failure to pay wages and breach of contract.

The employees — Casey Ward, Aaron Gibson, Amitava Lahiri, Jonathon Day, Sukanta Nanda, Sandeep Verma, and Ryan Peck — are seeking unpaid wages, severance pay, vacation, and commissions, and unreimbursed business expenses of more than $460,000, plus attorney's fees. Sandeep Verma is the name of the Minecode project manager charged with Samal in the "computer intrusion" case.

There was no response by Samal to the former employees' lawsuit when I checked the court file today.

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