Former employer overdue on 9 weeks of wages and other debts

I recently left a company that I never signed a contract with, persuaded by the owner that because it was a start-up company, legal matters will come after stabilizing the company. Because of a lack of capital, myself and several other employees worked day and night for two months without pay. Additionally, we paid for much of the company expenses, the money owed to me totaling 7 thousand. The CEO then left the country, claiming he was going to go raise capital. There were delays in communication (which were mostly done appallingly by text messages) and he suddenly became cold, distant, and unwilling to share with the employees back in the States what exactly he is doing. We all decided to leave recently, and I am trying to find out if there are any legal pursuits I can take to get ou