New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, alleging that insiders violated the state’s nonprofit laws by illegally diverting tens of millions of dollars from the group through excessive expenses and contracts that benefited relatives or close associates.
The extraordinary move against the nation’s largest gun-rights group comes after an 18-month investigation by Ms. James. As a nonprofit registered in New York since its founding in 1871, the NRA is regulated by the attorney general’s office.
The suit alleges that longtime CEO Wayne LaPierre and three other top officials “instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement, and negligent oversight at the NRA,” failed to properly manage the organization’s money and violated numerous state and federal laws, according to a news release announcing the complaint.
Among the allegations against the 70-year-old Mr. LaPierre, a national figure who has run the NRA for three decades: That he spent $3.6 million of NRA funds over the last two years on unwarranted travel consultants, flew family members on NRA-paid private jets when he wasn’t aboard and secured a $17 million post-employment contract for himself without board approval.
He also allegedly took eight trips to the Bahamas by private air charter, costing the NRA more than $500,000, according to the press release. Once there, he allegedly often was given the use of a 107-foot yacht owned by an NRA vendor, the release said.
“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” Ms. James said in the press release. “The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”
The NRA has strongly defended its governance practices in previous interviews with The Wall Street Journal. NRA attorney William A. Brewer III, at the time the AG’s investigation became public in April 2019, said the group “has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yor...d=breakingnews
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