The former CEO of the Bismarck-based LAS International said the company permanently closed shop last summer amid financial hardship precipitated by a slumping construction market.

Neil Whittey said in an e-mail Sunday that the wastewater treatment company, which was sued by the U.S. Labor Department last month for allegedly failing to pay into its employees 401(k) accounts, had been in "recovery mode" since a failed partnership ended with a subsidiary of Enron "a few years earlier," coupled with the delay of two major projects.

LAS International was founded in 1976, and was owned by more than 200 international investors, according to Whittey. He said the company laid off its remaining employees last summer in Bismarck and Carrington.

Carrington Mayor Don Frye said that the company closed its 10-person plant there in July, and owes the city about $20,000 in investment loans.

Neither Whittey nor Syver Vinje of LAS International, both named in the Labor Department lawsuit, said they could comment on the lawsuit.

Two former LAS International employees have filed wage claims against the company with the state Department of Labor, one for $27,334, and the other for $1,437, according to court filings.

Court filings for LAS International also show a number of other collection claims, including one for $19,977.33 by a Kentucky-based piping business, Felker Brothers, filed in February.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com.)