NRA, LaPierre are found liable in spending lawsuit
The National Rifle Association and its former longtime leader were found liable Friday in a lawsuit centered on the organization's lavish spending.
The New York jury found that Wayne LaPierre, who was the NRA's CEO for three decades, misspent millions of dollars of the group's money on pricey perks, and it ordered him to repay the group $4,351,231. Jurors also found that the NRA omitted or misrepresented information in its tax filings and violated New York law by failing to adopt a whistleblower policy.
LaPierre, 74, sat stonefaced in the front row of the courtroom as the verdict was read aloud. The jury actually found him liable for $5.4 million, but it determined he'd already paid back a little over a million.
The verdict is a win for New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat
who campaigned on investigating the NRA's notfor-profit status. It is the latest blow to the powerful group, which in recent years has been beset by financial troubles and dwindling membership. LaPierre, its longtime face, announced
his resignation on the eve of the trial.
NRA general counsel John Frazer and retired finance chief Wilson Phillips were also defendants in the case. Phillips was ordered to pay $2 million in damages to the NRA. Frazer,
meanwhile, was found to have violated his duties, but was not ordered to pay any money.
The penalties paid by LaPierre and Phillips will go back to the NRA, which was portrayed in the case both as a defendant that lacked internal controls to prevent misspending and as a victim of that same misconduct.
James also wants the three men to be banned from serving in leadership positions at any charitable organizations that conduct business in New York. A judge will decide that question during the next phase of the state Supreme Court trial.
Another former NRA executive turned whistleblower, Joshua Powell, settled with the state last month, agreeing to testify at the trial, pay the NRA $100,000 and forgo further involvement with nonprofits.
James sued the NRA and its executives in 2020 under her authority to investigate not-for-profits registered in the state.
She originally sought to have the entire organization dissolved, but Manhattan Judge Joel M. Cohen ruled in 2022 that the allegations did not warrant a “corporate death penalty.”
The trial, which began last month, cast a spotlight on the leadership, organizational culture and finances of the powerful lobbying group, which was founded more than 150 years ago in New York City to promote rifle skills and grew into a political juggernaut that influenced federal law and presidential elections.
Before he stepped down, LaPierre, had led the NRA's day-to-day operations since 1991, acting as its face and becoming one of the country's most influential figures in shaping gun policy.
During the trial, state lawyers argued that he dodged financial disclosure requirements while treating the NRA as his personal piggy bank, liberally dipping into its coffers for African safaris and other questionable expenditures.
His lawyer cast the trial as a political witch hunt by James.
LaPierre billed the NRA more than $11 million for private jet flights and spent more than $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas over a three-year span, state lawyers said.