“LaPierre and senior leaders at the NRA blatantly abused their positions and broke the law,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “But today, after years of rampant corruption and self-dealing, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA are finally being held accountable.”
A New York jury has found the National Rifle Association and its former C.E.O., Wayne LaPierre, liable for mismanagement and civil corruption.
According to NBC News, the jury announced its verdict after nearly five days of deliberation.
The lawsuit, adds NBC, was originally filed by New Yorkey Attorney General Letitia James in 2020. In her complaint, James claimed that LaPierre—along with other current and former members of the NRA—had flouted state law and violated their organization’s own policies to enrich themselves.
Other defendants named in the case included NRA corporate secretary and general counsel John Frazer, and Wilson “Woody” Phillips, its former treasurer and chief financial officer.
“For years, Wayne LaPierre used charitable dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending millions on luxury travel, expensive clothes, insider contracts, and other perks for himself and his family,” James said in a statement.
On Friday, the jury signaled that it had largely agreed with James’s allegations, saying that the NRA was largely mismanaged between March of 2014 and May of 2022. They also found that LaPierre’s own misconduct had caused an estimated $5.4 million in monetary harm to the National Rifle Association, while Phillips had caused an estimated $2 million in monetary harm to the organization.
Frazer, though, was not found not to have significantly damaged the NRA’s financial interests.
Before and during the trial, LaPierre and his attorneys tried to posit the state’s case as a politically-motivated witch hunt.
Furthermore, the NRA’s legal team suggested that—if any corruption had occurred—then the organization itself should be considered a victim, rather than a perpetrator.
But, in a 2023 ruling, a New York State Supreme Court justice rejected the NRA’s arguments, letting the case proceed to trial.
“The NRA’s factual allegations do not support any viable legal claims that the Attorney General’s investigation was unconstitutionally retaliatory or selective,” Justice Joel M. Cohen wrote in his decision.
During the trial’s closing arguments on Thursday, New York Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell told jurors that LaPierre and has associates had been caught “with their hands in the cookie jar.”
“They’re going to try to get you think about anything except what happened to those cookies,” she said. “They’re going to try to blame anyone else but themselves.”
Although the court has yet to determine what penalties LaPierre and his fellow defendants may face, James has since cast the jury’s ruling as “a major victory for the people of New York and our efforts to stop the corruption and agreed at the NRA.”
“In New York, you cannot geta way with corruption and greed, no matter how powerful or influential you think you may be,” James said in a statement published to social media. “Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules.”
“LaPierre and senior leaders at the NRA blatantly abused their positions and broke the law,” James said. “But today, after years of rampant corruption and self-dealing, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA are finally being held accountable.”
Sources
Jury finds NRA and Wayne LaPierre liable in civil corruption trial
Jury finds NRA, Wayne LaPierre liable in civil corruption case
National Rifle Association and Wayne LaPierre are found liable in lawsuit over lavish spending
NRA and Wayne LaPierre found liable in lawsuit over misspending of funds
Wayne LaPierre used the NRA as a ‘personal piggy bank,’ N.Y. attorney general says
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