Former NRA head Wayne LaPierre banned effectively for life from group in latest court ruling. (Photo: ScreenCap)
Wayne LaPierre, who ran the National Rifle Association (NRA) like a personal fiefdom and drove the non-profit deep into hard-right politics, has been banned from the group, effectively, for life.
A civil lawsuit filed by New York State Attorney General Letitia James sought LaPierre’s ouster as chief executive and executive vice president. He had served in those roles since 1991.
“The NRA and its senior leaders broke the law and funneled millions of dollars in cash and lavish perks to themselves, their families, and NRA insiders,” said James in a statement. ” t”The NRA had a stunning lack of accountability and its leaders engaged in illegality and self-dealing.”
New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen, who presided over the trial in February, banned LaPierre, 74, for a decade, effectively a life ban.
Cohen also ordered the group to retain a compliance consultant to ensure needed changes are enacted, change the internal Audit Committee, reduce the size of the Board, and increase access for candidates to stand for Board positions.
A jury found the NRA and three current and former senior leaders liable for violating New York state law. LaPierre and former Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wilson “Woody” Phillips engaged in financial misconduct and corruption, retaliated against whistle-blowers, and lied on its annual regulatory filings.
LaPierre was accused of allegedly misappropriating tens of millions of dollars for such luxuries as private air travel, golf memberships, gifts and luxury vacations.
LaPierre caused the NRA $5.4 million in damages and was ordered to pay $4.3 million. Phillips is required to pay $2 million in damages. He was also banned from New York’s not-for-profit industry for a decade.
In Aug. 2020, James filed a 169-page civil complaint with 18 separate charges against the NRA and the other current and former senior officers. The NRA filed for bankruptcy in Jan. 2021 in an attempt to avoid accountability by trying to reorganize in Texas.
In May 2021, a federal bankruptcy court in Texas rejected the NRA’s bankruptcy petition, stating, “that the NRA did not file the bankruptcy petition in good faith.”
Cohen affirmed in Jan. 2021 ,that James could seek an independent monitor to ensure the proper administration of the NRA’s charitable assets.
The New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department rejected an appeal in a final effort to delay the trial.
LaPierre announced he resignation as head of the organization just days before his New York corruption trial was due to start. The 74-year-old cited “health reasons.”
The trial lasted six weeks and the jury found all the defendants liable for violating New York not-for-profit laws and determined the damages for LaPierre and Phillips.
During his tenure, the NRA executive took an organization that mainly focused on gun safety and politicized it. The focus increasingly shifted from 2nd Amendment gun rights, into hard-right political causes.
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He distorted the group’s message, bullied Congress and through aggressive state and federal lobbying turned the nation into a free fire zone, where almost anybody can buy a deadly assault rifle.
In 1995, LaPierre wrote a fundraising letter describing federal agents as “jack-booted government thugs” who wear “Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens.”
Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012, he blamed the violence on “gun-free zones,” violent films and video games, and called for armed officers in schools.
After Trump took office in 2017, LaPierre adopted the rhetoric of hard-right and white supremacist groups, and Trump himself, attacking gun control advocates as “Socialists” and “Communists” or worse.
The New York Independent called for LaPierre’s ouster in Feb. 2018 for driving the gun group off the rails deep into alt-right politics. The group contributed $30 million to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
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During state and federal election cycles, the NRA could be counted on to spend millions of dollars on political advertising and lobbying, including aggressive media campaigns.
But the organization has largely sat out the latest election cycle that will culminate in federal elections, including the president in 2024.
LaPierre has studiously avoided the spotlight. while the group’s membership has dwindled from nearly 6 million members five years ago to about 4 million now. Revenue is down 44 percent since 2016, according to its internal audits. Legal costs have soared to tens of millions of dollars a year, according to The New York Times.
The Attorney General’s office was also instrumental in uncovering mis-spending and fraud in Trump’s charitable foundation, which has since been dissolved.
The OAG’s litigation and trial team was led by Assistant Attorney General and Special Counsel Monica Connell and Chief of the Enforcement Section Emily Stern, with a team of attorneys and legal assistants.