WEST HILLS, Calif. — The owner of shuttered adult DVD one-stop Empire Video Distributors filed for bankruptcy on June 23. Roy Karch abruptly closed his Chatsworth, Calif. facility in February after 12 years in business owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices.

Empire Video’s Roy Karch is not to be confused with the long-time director of the same name.

In his Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing Karch claims debts totaling $990,907.77 against assets of $35,500. According to the filing, Karch owned 89 percent of Empire Video and had full ownership of Pacific Coast, Epic Interactive and 75 percent of Xcartel, though there is an ongoing dispute with Xcartel co-owner Javier C, who claims he shared a 50-50 ownership split with Karch.

Karch’s biggest creditors include Jules Jordan Video to which he claims $65,463 is owed; LFP Video has accounts receivable totaling $105,654; Platinum X Pictures has $50,320 in outstanding invoices; and Private is out $23,867.

Collecting Empire Video’s debts is unlikely for its creditors given that none of the companies Karch owned or had a stake in is worth anything.

Stock in Pacific Coast, which ceased operations in February, still has some accounts receivable for which collection is doubtful. It’s stock was valued at zero dollars. Epic Interactive produced five or six short movies that were sold through Xcartel and its only assets are the DVD distribution rights to about 80 titles of which the value is extremely limited. It’s stock was valued at zero, too. Despite the ownership squabble, the assets of Xcartel were valued at zero.

Karch claims some of Empire’s woes were due to an unscrupulous warehouse manager that was shipping product without invoicing it. Sales consistently dropped for the company as content delivery shifted towards the Internet, but the company is “still collecting accounts receivable and attempting to pay down corporate debt, which far exceeds the value of the collectible receivables.”

Attempts to reach Karch for comment were unsuccessful.