On Thursday, Polaroid Corp. became the latest entity owned by indicted businessman, Tom Petters, to announce that it was seeking protection from creditors by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In a statement, Polaroid said that the bankruptcy filing was necessary because of an investigation of its parent company - Petters Group Worldwide - in which the group's founder and other employees are under investigation for fraud. However, the company also clarified that the investigation does not involve its leadership team.

Doug Kelley, the court-appoint receiver who oversees Polaroid and other Petters companies said Polaroid was in the process of getting new capital when the criminal search warrants were executed. Since it became impossible for Polaroid to function after that, it opted for bankruptcy to get stronger.

The Minnesota-based venerable consumer company - that revolutionized recreational photography more than 50 years ago with the instant camera - said the filing will neither affect day-to-day operations nor the introduction of unspecified new products in 2009.

Mary L. Jeffries, Polaroid CEO said: "Our operations are strong and during this process Polaroid will ship products to our retail partners, work with our suppliers and contract manufacturers to fulfill retailer demand." Adding that employees should receive their paychecks without interruption, Jeffries said that the company expected to continue its operations as normal during the reorganization and plan for new product launches in the coming year.