NEW YORK — The National Rifle Association and its former leader were found liable Friday in a lawsuit that focused on the organization’s excessive spending.
The New York jury found that Wayne LaPierre, who was CEO of the NRA for three decades, had wasted millions of dollars of the group’s money on expensive perks, and ordered him to repay the group $4,351,231. Jurors also found that the NRA omitted or misrepresented information in its tax returns and violated New York law by not adopting a whistleblower policy.
LaPierre, 74, sat stone-faced in the front row of the courtroom as the verdict was read aloud. The jury found him actually liable for $5.4 million, but determined that he had already paid back just over a million.
The ruling is a victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who campaigned on investigating the NRA’s nonprofit status. It is the latest blow for the powerful group, which has been plagued by financial problems and declining membership numbers in recent years. LaPierre, his old face, announced his resignation on the eve of the trial.
NRA General John Frazer and retired Chief Financial Officer 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 breached his duties but was not ordered to pay any money.
The fines paid by LaPierre and Phillips will go back to the NRA, which was portrayed in the case as a defendant that lacked internal controls to prevent misspending and as a victim of the same misconduct.
James also wants the three men barred from holding leadership positions at charities doing business in New York. A judge will decide that question during the next phase of the trial in the state Supreme Court.
Another former NRA executive turned whistleblower, Joshua Powell, settled with the state last month, agreeing to testify at trial, pay the NRA $100,000 and refrain from further involvement with nonprofits.
James in 2020 sued the NRA and its executives under its authority to investigate state-registered nonprofits.
She originally wanted to have the entire organization dissolved, but Manhattan Judge Joel M. Cohen ruled in 2022 that the charges did not warrant a “corporate death penalty.”
The trial, which began last month, shined 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 gun skills and grew into a political juggernaut that oversaw federal government influenced. law and presidential elections.
Before resigning, LaPierre had led the NRA’s day-to-day operations since 1991. He served as a public face and became one of the country’s most influential figures in shaping gun policy.
During the trial, state attorneys argued that he evaded financial disclosure requirements while treating the NRA as his personal piggy bank, dipping liberally into the coffers for African safaris and other questionable expenses.
His lawyer labeled the trial 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 three years, state attorneys said.
He also approved $135 million in NRA contracts for a salesman whose owners showered him with free trips to the Bahamas, Greece, Dubai and India, as well as access to a 110-foot yacht.
LaPierre claimed he had not realized that the travel tickets, hotel stays, meals, yacht access and other luxury perks were considered gifts, and that the private jet flights were necessary for his safety.
But he admitted that he improperly issued private flights for his family and accepted vacations from vendors who did business with the NRA without disclosing them.
Among those who testified at the trial was Oliver North, a former NRA president and former National Security Council military aide best known for his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. North, who resigned from the NRA in 2019, said he was kicked out after making allegations of financial improprieties.
After reporting a $36 million deficit in 2018, largely caused by misspending, the NRA cut back on longstanding programs that had been core to its mission, including training and education, recreational shooting and law enforcement initiatives. In 2021, it filed for bankruptcy and tried to locate in Texas instead of New York, but a judge rejected the move, saying it was an attempt to avoid James’ lawsuit.
Despite its recent woes, the NRA remains a political force. Republican presidential candidates flocked to the annual convention last year, and former President Donald Trump spoke at an NRA event earlier this month — his eighth speech to the association, the organization said.
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Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo contributed to this report.