Bermudian-domiciled artificial intelligence firm Afiniti Ltd, which once said it would bring 1,000 jobs to the island, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition in the United States — before withdrawing the petition.

According to a report in OffshoreAlert, the petition was filed at federal bankruptcy court in Delaware by the company’s chief executive, Hassan Afzal.

The report said that Mr Afzal then quickly filed a notice of withdrawal, with no explanation.

OffshoreAlert said Afiniti has “total funded secured debt obligations” of $522 million and $58.5 million of other debts, for total liabilities of $580.5 million, it was stated in the petition.

Afiniti went into provisional liquidation at the Bermuda Supreme Court on September 19, with Michael Morrison and Charles Thresh, of Teneo (Bermuda) Ltd, appointed as the joint and several provisional liquidators.

In October 2020, The Royal Gazettereported that Afiniti was moving 90 of its staff to the island under the Government’s one-year digital nomad residential certificate scheme.

At the time, Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, said that Afiniti International Holdings, headquartered in Bermuda, would also take on ten Bermudian staff and planned to build up its permanent presence on the island.

In January 2021, The Royal Gazette reported that Afiniti had an ambition to increase its presence to 1,000 staff on the island within five years.

Later that year, Zia Chishti, Afiniti’s founder, quit the firm after he was accused of a sex assault. He denied the allegations.

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