New York: According to the New York attorney general’s office, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its top executives were involved in widespread corruption. As per the closing arguments of the group’s civil corruption trial, the NRA should reimburse millions of dollars spent on personal expenses.
A jury is expected to begin deliberations Friday morning in a case that highlights one of the most powerful lobbying groups in a country that has more civilian guns than people. Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell said the NRA, former CEO Wayne LaPierre, former CFO Wilson “Woody” Phillips and general counsel John Frazer, were caught “with their hands in the cookie jar.” They denied, deflected and blamed each other for failing to properly manage charitable money and violating the non-profit’s rules, she said.
“What happens when someone is caught in the act? What are they going to do? What does our common sense and life experience tell us they’re going to do?” Connell asked. “Stopping illegal conduct after you’ve been caught does not make your misconduct disappear,” the Assistant Attorney General added. LaPierre, who resigned from his role at the National Rifle Association citing health issues, testified that his motive was not money. Instead, he claimed that the expenses were part of an effort to strengthen the organization’s influence and significance.
On the other hand, Connell has accused LaPierre of engaging in a long history of corruption. The allegations include spending money on private planes, cars, luxury hotels, expensive clothing, insider deals worth millions of dollars, and payments to board members who remain loyal to him. The National Rifle Association paid $600,000 for private flights to the Bahamas for LaPierre. Additionally, the organization spent about $41,000 on hair and makeup expenses.
According to testimony in court, the Association’s contract with its former advertising firm, MMP, had a clause that increased the payments every time the NRA’s CEO, Wayne LaPierre, or his wife spent time on the yacht owned by the owners of Ackerman McQueen, an MMP entity. The NRA paid MMP entities a total of $109 million between 2015 and 2022, and testimony suggested that this amount should be paid in damages, to be split among LaPierre, Philips, and Frazer.
Connell emphasized that they are talking about the trust of NRA donors, members who have given their hard-earned money to charity. Attorney General has quoted the hiring and removal of former National Rifle Association president Oliver North, who had previously testified for the state, as a clear example of LaPierre’s corruption.
LaPierre put him in the role of president without approval, offered North a $1 million contract, then bullied and fired him once North raised concerns, she informed jurors. Connell also claimed that LaPierre kept a group of followers on the National Rifle Association board who protected “Wayne’s world.”
In an unusual twist, NRA members could benefit from the ruling against former leaders. Connell said that the state would not pay any money. The attorney general’s office is asking the jury to find against LaPierre and the others and order them to pay restitution and fines to the organization.
“This is not a witch hunt. The Attorney General is trying to get money wrongly taken from the NRA back to the NRA,” Connell remarked. LaPierre’s attorney Kent Correll claimed during the ending arguments that, the former CEO “wasn’t interested in building a big pile of money for himself. He wasn’t interesting in getting money through a back door at the organization.”
According to Correll’s arguments, every private flight LaPierre took “was somehow a personal flight, It wasn’t. This was in the interest of the NRA.” Correll remarked that the New York attorney general was out to destroy the organization and the best way to do that was to go to LaPierre.
NRA attorney Sarah Rodgers has quoted that the misconduct against the non-profit was concealed from the organization, only damages must be awarded to the group, and the state is “telling you what we need to know” about the case. LaPierre has testified that, “If anything was found where I received an advantage, where I received benefits, I wanted to pay it back in interest, which is what I did.
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