The building at 1331 17th St. and Turing School founder and Executive Director Jeff Casimir. (BusinessDen illustration)
Denver’s Turning School of Software and Design has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after ceasing operations.
The online coding institution, which Jeff Casimir founded in 2014, said in its bankruptcy filing that it owes $1.3 million to 23 creditors. It said it has assets of less than $50,000.
Turing owes approximately $500,000 to its former LoDo landlord and biggest creditor, the Los Angeles-based CIM Group. In March, a judge ordered Turing to pay that amount after the latter sued Turing over unpaid rent.
In May, the same judge ordered Turing’s bank to garnish $218,000 from its account to pay its landlord. Though that money went out, Casimir told BusinessDen he is confident that money will be returned to the school to pay higher priority creditors, including 13 former employees that filings show are owed $163,000.
“We filed for bankruptcy to get that money back,” he said, noting that the process allows for bank transactions within 90 days to be returned. “My understanding is the court will tell them that they have to return that money, and the court has a whole priority framework to allocate the money.
“You never know with the court, but based on everything we know now, every employee should get paid for all the time they put in and every student should get reimbursed,” he said. “I’m terribly sad to file for bankruptcy and close the doors of Turing. But one of my goals was if we had to close, we would do so with as little harm as possible. I feel like we’re doing that.”
Casimir also said Turing owes the Department of Veterans Affairs, its second-biggest creditor, $300,000 in reimbursement in connection with cost-of-living stipends paid to students who are veterans.
Those enrolled in remote classes are supposed to get a smaller stipend than those attending classes in person. Turing’s students received the larger amount directly from the VA, despite courses being online since the beginning of the pandemic, Casimir said.
“It’s complete B.S., and we and VA didn’t see eye to eye,” he said. “We think that veteran students should get a good cost-of-living amount, that they should get the same as if they went to Metro State or DU.”
The disclosure comes as the coding school draws the ire of a state division over Turing’s actions in recent months.
The Division of Private Occupational Schools, which oversees institutions such as Turing, took issue with how the school was operating as it was winding down, alleging that it misled students because it didn’t have a state certificate.
In early May, the division sent a cease-and-desist letter to Turing saying the school had to shut down because of the violation. That letter also claimed that Casimir falsified records as part of Turing’s annual reporting requirements to the division.
The state’s investigation is still ongoing, Casimir said Tuesday.
Casimir said that Turing, which graduated 2,500 students in its 10 years, has officially stopped teaching classes, but its staff and students are still in touch with each other.
“We have people sharing job opportunities, sending messages. The alumni association is ramping up too,” he said. “There’s still life to the space.”
Casimir is looking for a full-time job, and he’s started a coaching company where he volunteers to help out his former students. He’s also pondering transposing Turing’s bootcamp concept to other fields, like an accelerated MBA program.
Casimir spoke to BusinessDen Tuesday after having a coffee with an alumnus, calling it a “really emotional conversation” through what sounded like tears. He said the student told him he’ll earn millions of dollars in his lifetime because he went to Turing.
“Organizationally, it’s sad,” he said. “But individually, the stories that were written don’t get unwritten now.”
