ENTERTAINMENT

Copeland Bankruptcy Filing: Orange County investor Robert F. Copeland, who helped launch the once-successful the Hop nightclub chain, has filed for personal bankruptcy and is seeking to liquidate his corporate enterprise. The Chapter 7 filing was entered in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana on Thursday, according to court documents. His Lake Forest firm, Copeland Brothers Inc., once ran seven 1950s-themed nightclubs in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. The clubs were closed last year. Several other clubs of the same name, owned by Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers singing group, still operate. Copeland claimed assets of only $50,000, with liabilities at $22.4 million, court records show. In 1986, Copeland was involved in an S&L; scandal involving Ramona Savings and Loan of Orange. Prosecutors charged that the thrift loaned Copeland and his brother $10 million, most of which they then loaned to Ramona executive Donald Stump, who used the money to buy out the thrift’s major shareholder, John Molinaro. Molinaro is serving time in prison on a fraud conviction.