NRA board member calls for ouster of CEO Wayne LaPierre in lawsuit

Gun Rights

A member of the National Rifle Association’s board of directors says the only way to clean up the gun-rights group is to replace the current board and top executives — including CEO Wayne LaPierre, new court papers show.

In a Friday court filing, NRA board member Roscoe Marshall Jr. asked to intervene in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit seeking to break up the organization over allegations that top execs, including LaPierre, siphoned millions of dollars and otherwise flouted non-profit rules to fund lavish lifestyles.

While Marshall doesn’t agree that the NRA should be broken up for good, he does believe the only way to fix the group is to appoint a temporary receiver and to install completely new leadership, according to papers his lawyer Taylor Bartlett filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court.

Bartlett says Marshall would be a good candidate for the temporary receiver position.

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“Mr. Marshall recognizes and appreciates that without this action no meaningful change in the NRA’s governance will likely occur due to defendant LaPierre’s total control of the executive leadership and his dominance of the board,” the court documents claim.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has sought to disband the NRA.
Ted Shaffrey/AP

“To the extent possible Mr. Marshall will work with the Attorney General to reform the NRA’s leadership for the benefit of all rank-and-file NRA members,” the filing says. “Mr. Marshall will pursue recovery of all NRA funds wrongfully paid to the third parties implicated but not sued by the AG, while vigorously opposing the AG’s dissolution claim.”

James said her office is reviewing Marshall’s motion, adding, “we are glad to hear that Mr. Marshall agrees that Wayne LaPierre and his top lieutenants must be removed form the NRA.”

NRA lawyer William Brewer noted that Marshall’s attorneys recently lost a similar bid for two NRA members to intervene in the suit.

This Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks at Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2020, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md. Houston. The National Rifle Association announced Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, it has filed for bankruptcy and will seek to incorporate the nation’s most politically influential gun-rights group in Texas instead of New York.
Wayne LaPierre was among those named in the lawsuit.
Jose Luis Magana, File/AP

“Now, with literally only days left of his appointment as a board member, Mr. Marshall appears to object to the NRA’s current, winning strategy: defend the political attacks of the NYAG and maintain a commitment to good governance,” Brewer said.

A lawyer for LaPierre did not immediately return a request for comment.

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