A jury in New York found former NRA gun lobby chief Wayne LaPierre liable on Friday, February 23, for corruptly mismanaging the organization, US media reported. LaPierre, who faced a civil trial where he was accused of using the National Rifle Association as a “personal piggy bank,” was also found by the jury to have cost the organization $5.4 million because of his misconduct – although he has since repaid $1 million of that. LaPierre said in January he would step down as president of the NRA, citing unspecified health reasons.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James brought a lawsuit against LaPierre and top NRA leaders in August 2020, leading to Friday’s verdict. “LaPierre and NRA senior management misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits, including private jets, expensive meals, and even family trips to the Bahamas,” said James’ office ahead of the trial’s commencement.
“The NRA, as a New York-registered not-for-profit, charitable corporation, has legal obligations to use its funds for charitable purposes, not to support the lavish lifestyles of senior management and organization insiders. “(The) investigation found that instead of serving NRA members, senior management blatantly disregarded New York state and federal laws, and even internal NRA policies.”
In January, James’ office announced that Joshua Powell, the NRA’s former executive director of operations and chief of staff to LaPierre, had reached a $100,000 agreement with her office. Powell was one of five defendants in the lawsuit.
Failed gun law reform
The 150-year-old NRA is the leading promoter of gun rights in the United States and has focused its efforts since the 1970s on battling gun restrictions. Polls have shown time and again that the majority of Americans want greater gun control, in a country where mass shootings occur regularly, schoolchildren are subjected to routine shooter drills, and there are more guns than people. But politicians have repeatedly failed to reform gun laws.
From 2000 to 2012, the NRA and its allies in the firearms industry combined to pour $80 million into US congressional and presidential races, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. In the 2016 presidential election, the NRA spent about $20 million for ads attacking Democrat Hillary Clinton and another $10 million for ads supporting Republican Donald Trump.