Unpaid Staff Revolts at Memjet’s Kia Silverbrook Research Facility

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Unpaid Staff Revolts at Memjet's Kia Silverbrook Research Facility
By ANTHONY KLAN

KIA Silverbrook claims to be the world's most prolific "inventor" — with more than 4600 US patents registered — but parts of the Sydneysider's empire are teetering on the verge of collapse.

Most of Mr Silverbrook's 150 employees — mostly scientists and engineers — have allegedly not been paid for more than six months, and some of them have now moved to wind up two of his Australian companies.

Disgruntled employees have filed wind-up orders against Mr Silverbrook's company Geneasys and Precision Mechatronics, a company owned by his partner, Janette Lee. Company records also show the NSW Office of State Revenue and Workcover NSW have each previously sought to wind up another of Mr Silverbrook's companies.

One of the workers taking the action, microchip research scientist Alireza Moini, said he resigned from Geneasys in July having not been paid since March.

"I wasn't paid super since October last year and that's the same for pretty much everyone across the company," Dr Moini told The Weekend Australian. "There's a very large pool of disgruntled and very, very unhappy people."

Also unhappy with Mr Silverbrook is George Kaiser, one of America's richest men, who personally invested $US610 million ($644m) in one of the companies, Silverbrook Research.

Last year, Mr Kaiser's Kaiser-Francis investment and charitable trusts sued Mr Silverbrook and Ms Lee citing fraud, deceit and "negligent misrepresentation".

The companies associated with Mr Kaiser, who was a prominent fundraiser for Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign and is the 34th richest person in the US, sought control of Silverbrook Research's "Memjet" inkjet printer technology.

Mr Kaiser's companies, which had invested heavily in the technology — which involved a large print cartridge allowing faster inject print speeds — recently took control of the technology as part of an undisclosed settlement.

Company searches show the NSW Office of State Revenue applied to wind up Mr Silverbrook's company MPOWA in August last year, and Workcover NSW launched similar action the following month. Both actions were later dropped.

Entities usually apply for wind-up orders if they are owed money by a company, with the companies then being wound up if payments are not met.

Mr Silverbrook said Geneasys and Precision Mechatronics were having "some difficulties", but attacked the wind-up action. "These (employees) have been advised by a law firm to put in wind-up orders, which has worsened the situation and made it very, very difficult to do things," Mr Silverbrook said.

"There are people looking for solutions at the moment and the whole thing will be solved in a relatively short amount of time, in a matter of weeks or months."

Dr Moini said he and another Geneasys employee had approached the Australian Securities & Investments Commission with concerns regarding Mr Silverbrook's companies, but had been brushed off.

Dr Moini said he had also approached the NSW Fairwork Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office.

Dr Moini said employees could only receive government payments covering their unpaid wages if the companies they had worked for were insolvent, which is why the wind-up orders had been sought.

Mr Silverbrook, who has kept an extremely low profile in the past, said he had registered 4629 US patents.

Mr Silverbrook said that, at their peak in 2011, his companies had 500 employees and that they had brought in "nearly $1 billion in export revenues".

Mr Silverbrook directed The Weekend Australian to a Wikipedia page about him, which he said was "very accurate".

"Silverbrook became the world's most prolific inventor on February 26, 2008, when he passed Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki,"the entry says.

Unpaid Staff Revolts at Memjet's Kia Silverbrook Research Facility
By ANTHONY KLAN

KIA Silverbrook claims to be the world's most prolific "inventor" — with more than 4600 US patents registered — but parts of the Sydneysider's empire are teetering on the verge of collapse.

Most of Mr Silverbrook's 150 employees — mostly scientists and engineers — have allegedly not been paid for more than six months, and some of them have now moved to wind up two of his Australian companies.

Disgruntled employees have filed wind-up orders against Mr Silverbrook's company Geneasys and Precision Mechatronics, a company owned by his partner, Janette Lee. Company records also show the NSW Office of State Revenue and Workcover NSW have each previously sought to wind up another of Mr Silverbrook's companies.

One of the workers taking the action, microchip research scientist Alireza Moini, said he resigned from Geneasys in July having not been paid since March.

"I wasn't paid super since October last year and that's the same for pretty much everyone across the company," Dr Moini told The Weekend Australian. "There's a very large pool of disgruntled and very, very unhappy people."

Also unhappy with Mr Silverbrook is George Kaiser, one of America's richest men, who personally invested $US610 million ($644m) in one of the companies, Silverbrook Research.

Last year, Mr Kaiser's Kaiser-Francis investment and charitable trusts sued Mr Silverbrook and Ms Lee citing fraud, deceit and "negligent misrepresentation".

The companies associated with Mr Kaiser, who was a prominent fundraiser for Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign and is the 34th richest person in the US, sought control of Silverbrook Research's "Memjet" inkjet printer technology.

Mr Kaiser's companies, which had invested heavily in the technology — which involved a large print cartridge allowing faster inject print speeds — recently took control of the technology as part of an undisclosed settlement.

Company searches show the NSW Office of State Revenue applied to wind up Mr Silverbrook's company MPOWA in August last year, and Workcover NSW launched similar action the following month. Both actions were later dropped.

Entities usually apply for wind-up orders if they are owed money by a company, with the companies then being wound up if payments are not met.

Mr Silverbrook said Geneasys and Precision Mechatronics were having "some difficulties", but attacked the wind-up action. "These (employees) have been advised by a law firm to put in wind-up orders, which has worsened the situation and made it very, very difficult to do things," Mr Silverbrook said.

"There are people looking for solutions at the moment and the whole thing will be solved in a relatively short amount of time, in a matter of weeks or months."

Dr Moini said he and another Geneasys employee had approached the Australian Securities & Investments Commission with concerns regarding Mr Silverbrook's companies, but had been brushed off.

Dr Moini said he had also approached the NSW Fairwork Ombudsman and the Australian Taxation Office.

Dr Moini said employees could only receive government payments covering their unpaid wages if the companies they had worked for were insolvent, which is why the wind-up orders had been sought.

Mr Silverbrook, who has kept an extremely low profile in the past, said he had registered 4629 US patents.

Mr Silverbrook said that, at their peak in 2011, his companies had 500 employees and that they had brought in "nearly $1 billion in export revenues".

Mr Silverbrook directed The Weekend Australian to a Wikipedia page about him, which he said was "very accurate".

"Silverbrook became the world's most prolific inventor on February 26, 2008, when he passed Japanese inventor Shunpei Yamazaki,"the entry says.

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December 4, 2013 at 12:19 PM