When the original crew of The Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright infringement following their 2009 trial, the trio plus former financier Carl Lundström were left with a hefty bills for damages. Interest on the amount has been accruing by the day ever since and all told the amount owed now exceeds $12m. But with Lundström about to go bankrupt, will Hollywood ever see a penny? Maybe not, but the studios aren't giving up yet.

Following their earlier convictions for copyright infringement, Pirate Bay co-founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, former site spokesman Peter Sunde, and financier Carl Lundström owed considerable amounts in damages.

After an appeal which further increased the amount of damages to be paid, together the quartet owed 46 million kronor ($6.99m) to their movie and record company plaintiffs.

Interest has been accruing since the raid against The Pirate Bay on May 31, 2006 and by February 2012 the total owed had reached 73 million kronor ($11.09m). By September 2012 another 3 million kronor had been added and now, 8 months later, the position has worsened by a similar amount.

The founders of the site have always insisted that their adversaries won’t see a penny but the situation for former financier Carl Lundström has always been a little more complex.

At one point Lundström was rich. He made a small fortune in the 1980s when the Wasabröd family crispbread business was sold for around 77 million kronor ($11.7m). He later added another $5.32m when he sold his telecoms company Port80 but other less profitable business deals over the next 15 years saw the entrepreneur lose around $7.5m.

In 2008, Lundström went to live in Switzerland, briefly returning to Sweden last year to sit out a four month sentence.

While his debt to the state is now served, to date Swedish authorities have found just 233,000 kronor ($35,400) belonging to Lundström to put towards his damages bill. According to Sonntags Zeitung, Lundström currently lives in a three story house on Lake Zurich with a Cadillac sitting outside. The publication claims that the businessman previously transferred all of his possessions to his wife Bettina.

Apparently flat broke, last year Lundström filed for bankruptcy in Switzerland. That process is nearly complete.

“It is expected to close in the coming weeks,” says Heiner Scheuble from the Rapperswil Prosecution Office.

The 53-year-old’s financial plight has also attracted the attention of Hollywood who are listed as creditors in his bankruptcy and keen to recover money.

“We are well aware of the various stages of Lundström’s process,” says Sabine Henssler, spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association.

However, the bankruptcy process is still not complete. Investigations into the former Pirate Bay financier’s business dealings continue in the light of earlier revelations that he had money hidden away in the Liechtenstein Global Trust Bank.

The money was found after German authorities bought confidential customer data from an ex-employee at the bank, which in turn generated a response from Swedish tax authorities.

“We have asked Mr. Lundström for 700,000 kronor ($106,250) in additional taxes for the years 2004 to 2007,” a spokesperson said.