By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

NEW YORK (AP) — Publishers Clearing House, a decades-old marketing and sweepstakes company known for doling out large “Prize Patrol” checks, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In an announcement this week, PCH said it was using the bankruptcy process to “finalize a shift away” from its legacy business of direct-mail, retail merchandise and magazine subscriptions. The company is hoping to instead transition to a “pure digital advertising” model, where it will continue to offer free-to-play entertainment and prizes.

The Chapter 11 proceedings, filed in New York on Wednesday, arrive amid growing financial strain for PCH — which has struggled with rising operational costs and changing consumer habits in recent years.

Pivoting from its old way of doing business will help the company break free from past constraints and “establish a strong foundation for our future,” CEO Andy Goldberg said in a statement.

But that doesn’t mean the famous sweepstakes are going away. PCH says it plans to operate in a “business-as-usual manner” throughout the bankruptcy process — noting that the “Prize Patrol” team will continuing to deliver awards across the U.S. The company says it’s lined up debtor-in-possession financing from Prestige Capital to fund operations through its restructuring.

PCH’s roots date back to 1953 — when Harold and LuEsther Mertz and their daughter, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore, formed a business out of their Long Island, New York home to send direct-to-consumer mailings that solicited subscribers for a number of magazines through one single offering.

The company later grew with chances for consumers to win money — first launching a direct mail sweepstakes in 1967 — and expanded its offerings to a wide variety of merchandise, from collectible figurines to houseware and “As Seen on TV” accessories, in the years that followed. Its in-person “Prize Patrol” team was formed in 1989.

PCH became known for surprising prize winners with oversized checks, which was often filmed and featured in TV commercials. In Wednesday court documents, the company said it has awarded over half a billion dollars in prizes and continues to attract millions of contestants today.

But its operations haven’t been without financial strain — particularly in recent years.

“While PCH’s direct mail and e-commerce programs were profitable for decades, changing patterns of consumer behavior, costs and competition, along with a declining pool of new prospecting names, negatively impacted the business, resulted in losses beginning in 2022,” William H. Henrich, co-chief restructuring officer for PCH, wrote in a court declaration Wednesday.

Henrich pointed to a handful of cost pressures — including rising shipping and postal rates, inventory and supply chain challenges that have continued since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising competition from major retailers today, like Walmart and Amazon, that have dominated the e-commerce space.

PCH also faced some scrutiny from regulators who previously raised concerns about consumers mistakenly believing that making purchases from the company would improve their chances at winning its sweepstakes. As a result, PCH has racked up several costly legal settlements over the years — most recently, Wednesday’s court documents note, paying $18.5 million to resolve allegations from the Federal Trade Commission in 2018.

As of the end of March, PCH had total assets of nearly $11.7 million and total liabilities of about $65.7 million, court documents show. The company currently has 105 employees and an annual gross revenue of about $38 million.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must facilitate the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.

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The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia returned to the United States by midnight Monday. Chief Justice John Roberts paused Xinis’ order to give the court time to weigh the issue.

This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP)

That deadline has now passed and the justices directed the judge to clarify her order, which called on the administration to “faciliate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

The high court also said the administration should be prepared to share what steps it already has taken and what it still might do.

The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.

The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, where he is being held in a notorious prison, but also argued that it no longer could do anything about it.

By PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — One of four women suing influencer and self-styled misogynist Andrew Tate for sexual assault said he whipped her with a belt and once stuck a gun in her face, according to court documents that have been filed in London.

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The allegations were filed last year but emerged Thursday, a few days before the first hearing in the civil case next week in the High Court. Tate, 38, will not be present as he and his younger brother Tristan Tate face charges in Romania over human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The woman alleging Tate stuck a gun in her face said the former professional kickboxer told her “you’re going to do as I say or there’ll be hell to pay” when doing so. It was unclear whether the gun was real or a replica. She also said Tate whipped her with a belt if she did not get out of bed and do work for his webcam business.

Two of the women involved in the civil lawsuit worked for his webcam business, and two were former girlfriends. Their identities have not been revealed in line with legal practice in England. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 2013 and 2015.

A spokesperson for Tate, who has amassed millions of followers online, many of them young men and boys drawn in by the luxurious lifestyle he projects, said the allegations outlined in the documents are “unproven and untested” and “categorically” denied.

“Specifically, he denies ever threatening anyone with a firearm, engaging in non-consensual acts or subjecting any individual to physical or psychological harm,” according to a response submitted by his lawyers.

The U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute Tate over sexual assault allegations in 2019. Three of the accusers in the current suit were the subject of the investigation by police that prosecutors chose not to pursue.

The Tates, who are dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all of the allegations against them.

The pair face extradition to the U.K. following the conclusion of proceedings in Romania, after England’s Bedfordshire Police secured a European arrest warrant for further separate allegations of rape and human trafficking involving different women between 2012 and 2015.

Last month, Andrew Tate’s former girlfriend, Brianna Stern filed a lawsuit against him in Los Angeles accusing him of sexual assault and battery. Tate denies the allegations.

The Associated Press typically does not identify people who say they are the victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly with their story, as Stern has done.

By REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is allowing the Trump administration to move forward with a requirement that everyone in the U.S. illegally must register with the federal government, in a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for immigrants across the country.

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In a ruling Thursday, Judge Trevor Neil McFadden sided with the administration, which had argued that they were simply enforcing an already existing requirement for everyone in the country who wasn’t an American citizen to register with the government.

The requirement goes into effect Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 25 that it was mandating that all people in the United States illegally register with the federal government, and said those who didn’t self-report could face fines or prosecution. Failure to register is considered a crime, and people will be required to carry registration documents with them or risk prison time and fines.

Registration will be mandatory for everyone 14 and older without legal status. People registering have to provide their fingerprints and address, and parents and guardians of anyone under age 14 must ensure they registered.

The registration process also applies to Canadians who are in the U.S. for more than 30 days, such as so-called snowbirds who spend winter months in places like Florida.

Federal immigration law has long required that people who aren’t American citizens and live in the U.S., including those here illegally, register with the government. Those laws can be traced back to the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which came amid growing fears of immigrants and political subversives in the early days of World War II. The current requirements stem from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.

But the requirement that people illegally in the U.S. register has been enforced only in rare circumstances. In fact, advocates opposing the government say it hasn’t been universally used since it was first introduced in the mid-1940s.

It was used in a limited way after Sept. 11, 2001, when the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System required that all noncitizen males 16 and older from 25 countries — all but one of them majority Arab or Muslim — register with the U.S. government. The program led to no terrorism convictions but pulled more than 13,000 people into deportation proceedings. It was suspended in 2011 and dissolved in 2016.

The Trump administration has argued that the registration requirement has always existed and that officials are simply enforcing it for everyone.

The groups that sued say this registration process is expressly to facilitate President Donald Trump’s aim of carrying out mass deportations of people in the country illegally.

The plaintiffs also say the government should have gone through the more lengthy public notification process before bringing about the change.

They argue that the registry puts people who work, contribute to the economy and have deep family ties in America into a deep bind: Do they come forward, register and essentially give up their location to a government intent on carrying out mass deportations, or do they stay in the shadows and risk being charged with the crime of not registering?

The government has already asked people subject to the registration requirement to create an account on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.