Chapter 11 Protection Sought by Aura Systems

Aura Systems Inc., an El Segundo-based company with a history of run-ins with regulators, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, the company said.

Aura, which had sales of about $2 million last year, has been trying to develop commercial products based on electromagnetic technology.

The company’s longtime chief executive, Harry Kurtzman, quit in 2002 as the Securities and Exchange Commission was preparing accounting fraud charges against him. In settling the case, he was barred for life from serving as a corporate officer.

Last month, two former executives of NewCom Inc., a computer-parts maker that was spun off from Aura in 1997, were sentenced to two years each in federal prison for their roles in a scheme to book fake sales and deceive regulators and investors.

Aura, now led by Chief Executive Raymond Yu, said that “a lack of adequate funding and an excess of debt necessitated the bankruptcy filing.” The firm, whose stock price has fallen to less than a penny a share, said it would explore “appropriate methods of raising additional or replacement funding” for its operations.