A federal bankruptcy judge dismissed the NRA’s bankruptcy chapter 11 filing on Tuesday, halting the gun rights organization’s attempt to move from New York to Texas.
On August 6, 2020, Breitbart News reported that New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a suit in which she sought to dissolve the NRA. Her suit, filed in state court in Manhattan after an 18-month investigation, cited allegations that high-ranking NRA executives diverted millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates, and other questionable expenditures.
James released a statement with her suit, saying, “The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets. The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”
On January 15, 2021, Reuters announced the NRA was filing bankruptcy in Dallas, describing the move as something that “could help the gun rights group escape a lawsuit by New York’s attorney general seeking its dissolution.”
The Texas Tribune reported the NRA subsequently announced it was leaving New York, where it has been incorporated, and moving to Texas. The Tribune noted that the announcement might “be more of a legal move than a physical one.”
On May 11, 2021, Bankruptcy Judge Harlin Hale dismissed the NRA’s filing for chapter 11 reorganization. The Associated Press quoted Judge Hale saying, “The Court believes the NRA’s purpose in filing bankruptcy is less like a traditional bankruptcy case in which a debtor is faced with financial difficulties or a judgment that it cannot satisfy and more like cases in which courts have found bankruptcy was filed to gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme.”
Hale also alluded to Wayne LaPierre’s admission of putting the NRA in bankruptcy proceedings without notifying many of the group’s board members and/or top officers.
Hale said, “Excluding so many people from the process of deciding to file for bankruptcy, including the vast majority of the board of directors, the chief financial officer, and the general counsel, is nothing less than shocking.”
NY AG James used a Tweet to react to the judge’s dismissal of the NRA filing:
#BREAKING: A judge has ruled in our favor and rejected the @NRA's attempt to claim bankruptcy and reorganize in Texas.
The @NRA does not get to dictate if and where it will answer for its actions, and our case will continue in New York court.
No one is above the law.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) May 11, 2021
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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