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A Calabasas-based real estate developer has been indicted in a bankruptcy fraud case that also alleges he laundered funds through shell companies in order to hide them from his creditors, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Mark Handel was charged in a nine-count indictment unsealed on Friday with one count of making a false statement in a bankruptcy case, two counts of concealing assets belonging to a bankruptcy estate, one count of falsely testifying under oath at a bankruptcy proceeding, and five counts of money laundering. Handel’s arraignment is scheduled for February 16 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. According to the indictment, Handel worked as a developer of commercial and residential real estate for more than 30 years. In April 2015, Handel filed a chapter 11 protection and subsequently made a series of false statements to avoid debts exceeding $10 million that he owed to creditors, including California Bank and Trust (CBT), the indictment alleges. The indictment further alleges that Handel formed multiple corporations and limited liability companies to conceal his income and his involvement in real estate development projects. Handel purposely failed to put his name on the corporations and entities in order to conceal and disguise his business activities and to deceive his creditors, the indictment alleges. Handel allegedly used his wife — who had no real estate business experience — and others as nominee partners, managers and owners of the LLCs that he in fact controlled.

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.

Specialty retailer Francesca’s Holdings Corp. has won court approval to sell its remaining business out of bankruptcy to a group of buyers that plan to keep open about half of the chain’s roughly 550 stores, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Brendan Shannon of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., said on Thursday he would approve the sale of substantially all of Francesca’s assets to an affiliate of investment firm TerraMar Capital LLC and appraisal and liquidation firm Tiger Capital Group LLC, one of Francesca’s lenders. “This is a frankly very, very welcome result,” Judge Shannon said during a hearing Thursday held by video. “This is an extraordinarily challenging environment and to come up with competing, going concern sales and the opportunity for a robust auction, that would not have been anyone’s likely prediction at the outset of this process.” Los Angeles-based TerraMar, which served as the lead bidder along with Tiger, agreed to a purchase price of $18 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments, plus a promissory note for $1.25 million and the assumption of about $7.74 million in liabilities. The deal, which could close by next week, will preserve the business as a going concern with at least 275 Francesca’s boutiques. As of Tuesday, Francesca’s operated 551 locations, mostly in malls across the U.S. About 140 stores were shut before Francesca’s filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in December.

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.

Restaurant franchisee NPC International Inc. won court approval to sell more than 1,300 Pizza Hut and Wendy’s restaurants for about $800 million, six months after the coronavirus pandemic pushed the company into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Under two deals approved yesterday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones, Flynn Restaurant Group will take over 951 Pizza Hut locations and nearly 200 Wendy’s stores, according to court filings. Wendy’s Co. will take over another 200 of its namesake restaurants and then turn them over to a group of its franchisees. The agreements won the support of Pizza Hut and Wendy’s, which were involved in negotiating terms of the sales, attorneys for the two restaurant companies said in court. When NPC filed for bankruptcy last year, it operated more than 1,200 Pizza Hut locations and nearly 400 Wendy’s restaurants. In November, NPC called off auctions for its Pizza Hut and Wendy’s restaurants because the offers were too low, an NPC lawyer said last month. Instead, the company entered into settlement talks that ultimately led to the current deal.

KKR & Co. Inc., Blackstone Group Inc. and other big lenders to department store chain Belk Inc. are in talks with the company to keep it out of bankruptcy after the chapter 11 process proved difficult for other retailers during the COVID-19 pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. While Charlotte, N.C.-based Belk isn’t guaranteed to reach a restructuring agreement, the company, its lenders and private equity owner Sycamore Partners are getting closer to an out-of-court deal. Like other department store chains, Belk has struggled with a pullback in retail foot traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic as stuck-at-home consumers turn to online shopping. Belk’s negotiations with lenders focus on fixing the company’s balance sheet, possibly through a debt-for-equity swap or fresh financing. Bloomberg News earlier reported the negotiations. KKR and Blackstone are interested in converting part of Belk’s $2.6 billion debt into equity, possibly under an out-of-court deal that would allow Sycamore to retain an ownership stake.

Buffeted by COVID-19, struggling with crumbling finances, one of America’s largest nursing home chains gave its CEO a $5.2 million “retention payment” in late October, just as the second big wave of the pandemic was rising, the Washington Post reported. On Jan. 5, nonetheless, George Hager Jr. retired as head of Genesis HealthCare. He will have to pay an unspecified amount of the money back, to avoid certain tax liabilities, according to an SEC filing by the company, but he will apparently be reimbursed over the next two years. The Genesis board also agreed to give him an immediate $650,000 bonus and a $300,000 consulting contract, according to the filing. The company would not elaborate on the arrangement. Under Hager’s leadership the more than 300 Genesis nursing homes experienced 14,352 confirmed cases of COVID-19 through mid-December, according to reports the company made to Medicare officials. The total number of residents who died of the disease was 2,812, as of Dec. 20. Both figures are higher than in comparable nursing home chains.

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.

West Virginia became the 12th state to accept the bankruptcy reorganization plan from Frontier Communications, even though lawmakers still have concerns whether Frontier can live up to its promises to expand broadband service across the state, the Parkersburg (W.Va.). News and Sentinel reported. The state Public Service Commission released two orders Friday: one accepting a proposed settlement agreement between Frontier, PSC attorneys, the PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division and the Communication Workers of America union and the other accepting the results from a long-anticipated focused management audit of the company. The two orders impose strict conditions on Frontier to improve its copper-line phone and internet services, as well as expand its fiber broadband internet service. Under the joint stipulation agreement approved by the PSC, Frontier agreed to spend $200 million on capital improvements by Dec. 31, 2023, and to deploy fiber high-speed internet to at least 150,000 locations in the state by Dec. 31, 2027.