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The National Rifle Association on Thursday lost a preliminary round in a legal battle with New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who wants the gun-rights nonprofit dissolved because of alleged financial misdeeds, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Joel Cohen of the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan refused to dismiss New York’s lawsuit against the NRA or ship the dispute to state or federal court in Albany, N.Y., where the NRA has challenged several official actions against it by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state authorities. NRA lawyer William A. Brewer III said in a statement that the organization remains confident New York’s case lacks merit and is unconstitutional. Ms. James, in a statement, said the judge’s decision “reaffirms what we’ve known all along: The NRA does not get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions.” The ruling means a possible trial could commence by early next year in a major lawsuit the NRA has said threatens its existence and grew out of a politically hostile environment in New York.

The National Rifle Association said it took refuge in bankruptcy court due to partisan legal efforts in New York to put it out of business, but that it isn’t seeking to block that litigation from progressing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In court papers filed early Wednesday, the NRA accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York Attorney General Letitia James of targeting the organization with a lawsuit designed to weaken it in ahead of the 2020 elections. The court filing came in advance of the NRA’s debut appearance in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas, where the nonprofit sought chapter 11 protection last week as part of a planned move to Texas. At the hearing, lawyers for the NRA said the organization won’t use the bankruptcy filing to try to put a halt to the New York lawsuit, which was filed in August. “As we have made clear, we’re not afraid of the litigation in New York State and we’re prepared to go forward on that,” NRA bankruptcy lawyer Patrick Neligan said during the videoconference hearing. The organization hasn’t sought to invoke the automatic stay, a bankruptcy shield that halts some hostile legal actions against troubled companies. More litigation targeting the NRA could be on the way, Mr. Neligan said. The New York attorney general’s office remains concerned about statements from the organization, said James Sheehan, chief of the charities bureau in that office. The NRA continues to defend against the lawsuit, and is due to appear in state court in Manhattan on Thursday to argue for the attorney general’s allegations to be heard in Albany, N.Y. instead.

Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas, the New York Times reported. The group’s effort to circumvent New York’s legal jurisdiction raised immediate questions from Letitia James, the New York attorney general and a Democrat, who is seeking to use her regulatory authority to dissolve the N.R.A. She has been conducting an investigation into corruption at the gun group since 2019. “The N.R.A.’s claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt,” James said in a statement Friday. “While we review this filing, we will not allow the N.R.A. to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office’s oversight.” James’s investigation has come as the N.R.A. has been racked by infighting and discontent, including the bitter departures of its president, Oliver L. North, and its top lobbyist, Chris Cox. Long the nation’s most powerful gun lobby, the N.R.A. played a diminished role in the 2020 election, hampered by financial woes and a host of legal challenges. Typically, nonprofit groups that are chartered in New York and under investigation are prohibited from relocating their assets during an inquiry; in recent years, the attorney general’s office prevented the Trump Foundation from closing before it had reached the conclusion of an investigation into that organization. The bankruptcy filing could delay the resolution of the attorney general’s case while the matter is litigated in bankruptcy court.

The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame has filed for bankruptcy, the Tulsa World reported. The news broke in the middle of an eviction hearing before a special judge in the Tulsa County District Court Small Claims Division. Jason McIntosh, executive director of the Jazz Hall of Fame, confirmed the bankruptcy filing but declined to comment further at the advice of counsel. The Tulsa County Industrial Authority filed a lawsuit in November seeking to terminate its lease with the Jazz Hall and recover $8,474 in past-due taxes and utilities. The lawsuit also alleges that the Jazz Hall fell so far behind in its utility payments that electricity to the building was turned off on Oct. 19. The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame leases the Union Depot, at First Street and Cincinnati Avenue, a facility bought and refurbished by the county with $4 million in Vision 2025 funds. It pays $1 a year in rent and is required to cover tax, insurance and utility costs. The bankruptcy filing puts an automatic stay on the Industrial Authority’s case until the bankruptcy proceedings are completed.

A bankruptcy judge won’t shorten the timeline for victims of clergy sex abuse to bring claims against the Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, N.Y., saying survivors should get as much time as state law allows, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The ruling by Judge Shelley Chapman of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York aligns a crucial deadline for claims against the Diocese of Rockville Centre with the Aug. 14 cutoff date established under New York law. The diocese, which covers nearly all of suburban Long Island, had argued for a May deadline for bankruptcy claims, saying it needed to know how many sexual abuse claims it faced in order to move ahead swiftly with a settlement plan. Judge Chapman sided with an official committee representing sexual abuse survivors, adding that pressures of the pandemic argued for more time to file claims. Hundreds of lawsuits already had been filed when the diocese, the nation’s eighth-largest by the number of baptized Catholics, sought bankruptcy protection in October 2020. In court papers, committee lawyers said “many elderly and vulnerable adults” in the New York area will be weighing whether to file a bankruptcy claim and argued they should get as much time as lawmakers had given them to sue.

A bankrupt internet retailer is the first borrower under the Paycheck Protection Program to settle civil Justice Department fraud allegations after the company falsely claimed it wasn’t bankrupt on a $350,000 loan application, the Wall Street Journal reported. SlideBelts Inc., an e-commerce company selling apparel and wearable technology, and its chief executive Brigham Taylor agreed to pay $100,000 in damages and penalties to resolve civil fraud allegations, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento, Calif. SlideBelts returned the $350,000 loan proceeds in July after multiple requests by the Small Business Administration, which administers the PPP. Under SBA rules, companies under bankruptcy protection aren’t eligible to access the PPP, an enormously popular program of forgivable, government-guaranteed loans designed to keep checks flowing to Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The defendants made false statements to multiple banks in order to obtain a [PPP] loan that should have been disbursed to an honest small business suffering financially from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. attorney McGregor W. Scott said Tuesday. The Justice Department and the SBA will “aggressively pursue those who exploit federal programs intended to help those in need during this national emergency,” he said. As part of the settlement, SlideBelts and Mr. Taylor, who is also the company’s chief financial officer, admitted to making false statements to the three different banks where they submitted PPP applications, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for the stars and producers of the 2012 film “Silver Linings Playbook” on Wednesday urged a federal appeals court to find the company that purchased The Weinstein Company’s assets out of bankruptcy must honor prior compensation obligations, Reuters reported. The case is one of many in which film and television talent are looking to collect on payments owed under contracts with The Weinstein Company before it filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Though stars like Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro are involved in the lawsuit, Wednesday’s arguments before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focused on the work-for-hire contract of “Silver Linings” producer Bruce Cohen.