DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case.
Judge Harlin Hale announced his decision Tuesday in the case over whether the powerful gun-rights group should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York.
Lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James argued the bankruptcy filing was an effort by NRA leaders to avoid accountability for using the group’s coffers as their piggybank.
The ruling leaves the NRA to face a New York state lawsuit that accuses it of financial abuses and aims to put it out of business.
The attorney general reacted to the judge’s ruling on Twitter, saying “no one is above the law.”
“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,” wrote James.
The attorney general’s office filed the lawsuit against the NRA last August. It seeks to put the organization out of business over allegations that high-ranking executives diverted millions of dollars for personal benefit.
The lawsuit was the result of an 18-month investigation. James says the probe found the NRA's top leaders used the association's funds for lavish personal trips, contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.
In an August statement, the president of the NRA called the lawsuit a "baseless" attack on the organization and the Second Amendment.
