NYC strip club honcho files for bankruptcy

The show is not over for the cabaret artist.

Financially strapped Jiggle Joint owner Robert Gans filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday to keep his portfolio of at least 11 properties from falling to lenders.

Gans’ holdings include the Manhattan adult entertainment operation Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea’s Scores New York, which inspired the 2019 film Hustlers — as well as a large 11th Avenue property currently used as a lumber yard and retail building in Soho and two addresses in Queens, Crain reported.

By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the indebted landlord temporarily halted lawsuits from multiple lenders against him over defaulted mortgages, including a $130 million loan. Mack Real Estate Group alleges that Gans missed more than $6 million in payments on the loan and defaulted on him in October, according to court filings.

More recently, Extell Development and Eli Tabak’s Bluestone Group — among other lenders — filed a lawsuit against Gans in June after Gans himself sued them for a “broad and predatory plan” to sell its $200 million real estate portfolio steal. Gans also claimed lenders – who bought mortgage debt on several of his properties in April – prevented him from paying off his debt and refinancing, according to Crain’s.

The companies, which are “controlled by members of the tobacco real estate family,” were “conspiring” to sell his portfolio, Gans alleges in the lawsuit, seeking $100 million in damages, the Real Deal reported.

This is a far cry from Gans’ first headline-grabbing legal woe. The Tsar of the Gentlemen’s Club was previously sued on charges including operating an escort service from a Midtown building and violating federal and state labor laws. He in turn sued Deutsche Bank.

The German financial services giant “pulled the rug out from under him at the last minute” and walked back on a $17 million loan after learning it owned two of Manhattan’s biggest strip clubs, Gans claimed at the time.