All Def Digital Has Reportedly Filed For An ‘ABC’ — An Alternative Procedure To Bankruptcy

All Def Digital (ADD) has reportedly filed for an ABC (which stands for ‘assignment for the benefit of creditors’) — an alternative process to bankruptcy that doesn’t involve the federal government. In an ABC, an insolvent entity signs control over its properties to a third party to liquidate remaining assets and repay creditors. Creditors are repaid before any of the entity’s shareholders.

Billboard reports that ADD has tapped California-based business advisory firm Armanino to conduct the ABC. Multiple sources have independently confirmed Armanino’s involvement to Tubefilter. We’ve reached out to the firm to see if or in what capacity All Def Digital could continue after the ABC, and will update this story with any additional information.

At the same time, Billboard reports that several contractors and freelancers who worked for All Def Digital claim that they are owed a total of $50,000 in unpaid wages. A former ADD employee told Billboard that the company intends to pay back all of the contractors who are owed money.

Tubefilter reported earlier this month that layoffs had been widely administered at ADD, and that execs from a financial firm arrived at the company’s Los Angeles offices to divvy up its assets. Presumably around that time, Billboard reports, several All Def productions were promptly halted, and contractors claim that they have yet to be compensated for their services. Some contractors said that when they reached All Def execs to seek payment, they were referred to Armanino, which in turn referred them to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office. A former contractor who requested anonymity echoed these same experiences to Tubefilter.

All Def Digital president and CEO Chris Blackwell previously denied rumors that the company was shutting its doors, telling Variety earlier this month that it was undergoing a major restructuring “in advance of a strategic deal.” That said, an All Def rep told a former freelancer in June that the company was “folding,” per Billboard.

ADD founded in 2013 by hip hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, and the digital outfit rose to renown for producing urban music, comedy, and spoken-word content across myriad platforms. Simmons was accused of sexual assault by multiple women beginning in 2017, whereupon he stepped away from ADD and his other business and charity ventures, while denying the allegations. ADD has raised roughly $15 million in venture funding to date.