NY Attorney General lawsuit seeks to dissolve National Rifle Association - ABC News
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 4 years ago • 78 commentsBy: Aaron Katersky,Matthew Mosk (ABC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The New York Attorney General is filing a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, seeking to dissolve the powerful gun lobby for a multitude of alleged violations of state law governing charities.
Attorney General Letitia James is accusing the NRA of an array of "illegal conduct," according to a press release describing the suit, including "[the] diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership, awarding contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appearing to dole out lucrative no- show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty."
The civil lawsuit, expected to be filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday, also names as defendants longtime NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and three other NRA executives - John Frazier, Woody Phillips and Joshua Powell - and seeks their removal from their current positions and prohibition from their future service on any other New York-based nonprofit board.
Those four executives "failed to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the NRA," James is alleging, "and used millions upon millions from NRA reserves for personal use, including trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals, and other private travel."
But James is demanding more than a change in leadership. The problems within the organization, she argues, are pervasive, as senior leaders "blatantly ignored" internal policies, while the board's audit committee was "negligent" in providing oversight.
James wants to see the entire nearly 150-year-old organization, which is chartered in New York, "shuttering its doors."
"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," said Attorney General James in a statement, according to the release. "The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."
(MORE: NRA infighting spills into public view with anonymous leak of documents)
An NRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but its representatives have previously dismissed any concerns about financial mismanagement within the organization.
"The NRA has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance," NRA outside counsel William Brewer said in a statement last year, responding to prior allegations related to the group's finances. "The association's financials are audited and its tax filings are verified by one of the most reputable firms in the world. Internally, the association has an appropriate conflict of interest policy, which provides that all potential conflicts are reviewed and scrutinized by the audit committee."
The NRA has been a major force in Republican Party politics for decades and, more recently, has emerged as a key source of support for President Donald Trump. In the 2016 election, various arms of the NRA were responsible for directing more than $50 million into political campaigns, including $30 million to back then-candidate Trump, according the federal election data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Thursday's filing is the culmination of a 17-month investigation into the organization's finances and its nonprofit status launched in April 2019 in the wake of revelations about questionable spending practices inside the NRA that were further detailed in an anonymous leak of internal documents.
In April, the NRA sued its longtime ad agency Ackerman McQueen, the contractor behind NRATV, raising questions about the firm's relationship with then-NRA President retired Lt. Col. Oliver North. Days later, The New Yorker published an investigation by Mike Spies of the nonprofit journalism outlet The Trace that claimed "memos created by a senior N.R.A. employee describe a workplace distinguished by secrecy, self-dealing, and greed, whose leaders have encouraged disastrous business ventures and questionable partnerships, and have marginalized those who object."
Later that same month, The New York Times reported that in a letter sent to NRA board members, LaPierre accused North of extorting him, threatening to release damaging information about the NRA unless LaPierre resigned from his post as chief executive officer. Ultimately, however, it was North who would step down as president, losing the apparent power struggle.
(MORE: Watchdog groups sue federal agency over NRA's alleged campaign coordination 'scheme')
Then, in May, a trove of what appeared to be internal NRA documents were anonymously posted online, raising more questions about LaPierre's leadership amid mounting allegations of financial mismanagement within the gun lobby.
The leaked documents included letters that appeared to show that North had raised serious concerns with the organization's audit committee about $24 million in legal fees paid to the firm of outside counsel William Brewer over the previous year. ABC News was not been able to verify the authenticity of the documents, but NRA officials did not dispute that they were real, instead calling the leak "pathetic."
Those fees, estimated in one letter to cost the organization nearly $100,000 per day, "are draining NRA cash at mindboggling speed," wrote North and NRA Vice President Richard Childress on April 18 as they urged the committee to authorize an independent review.
"Invoices of this size for 12 months of work appear to be excessive and pose an existential threat to the financial stability of the NRA," the letter reads. "This is a fiscal emergency."
The leaked documents also included purported letters to LaPierre from Ackerman McQueen's chief financial officer William Winkler seeking more information about $274,965.03 in wardrobe expenses made at Zegna in Beverly Hills and $267,460.53 of other personal expenses - primarily travel to the Bahamas, Palm Beach, New York, Los Angeles, Reno, Budapest and Italy - apparently for LaPierre but charged to Ackerman McQueen.
That latter total also includes $13,804.84 for an apartment in Fairfax, Virginia that, according to the letter, LaPierre "required we rent" and "billed to the NRA" for a young woman who, according to LinkedIn, was then an intern at the organization.
In response to questions, however, top NRA officials have continued to express their support of LaPierre.
"This is stale news - being recycled by those with personal agendas," said Carolyn Meadows, the NRA's current president, last year. "In any event, the entire board is fully aware of these issues. We have full confidence in Wayne LaPierre and the work he's doing in support of the NRA and its members. It is troubling and a bit pathetic that some people would resort to leaking information to advance their agendas. This has no bearing on the board's support of Wayne - and the work the NRA does to protect America's constitutional freedoms."
(MORE: NRA board member: 'Imperative' to clean house, move on from CEO Wayne LaPierre)
As NRA in-fighting spilled into public view, other investigators sought to open similar probes. A Democratic lawmaker asked the Internal Revenue Service to "investigate recent reports of possible wrongdoing" at the NRA, and the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia issued subpoenas as part of "an investigation into whether these entities violated the District's Nonprofit Act."
The investigation that resulted in Thursday's lawsuit was led by the New York Attorney General's Charities Bureau, which "supervises the activity of foundations and other charities to ensure that their funds and other property devoted to charitable purposes are properly used," according to the bureau's website. Thursday's lawsuit seeks restitution for NRA members who were allegedly defrauded and additional penalties worth millions of dollars.
The New York charities bureau is the same team that forced the Trump Foundation to dissolve in 2018 for alleged misappropriations of charitable funds to service Trump's business and political interest.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Aggressive move?
Overreaching?
You mean a democrat/progressive New York AG leading an investigation against a Conservative organization?
The President heard about it as he was boarding a plane for Ohio. His advice:
“I think the NRA should move to Texas and lead a very good and beautiful life”
For those that donate to the NRA and don't like their donations misused.... no....
They should simply be forced to re-organize and give up their non-profit status. That way they can become a corporation and spend their money how ever they like without this oversight. Seems like most of their members want them to support what they support, just do it without that status.
Only if you believe that some organizations should be above the law simply because you agree with their supposed mission statement.
Used to be a NRA member but got tired of my dues going to far right wing fascists.
I am sure they are suffering from your decision
Obviously they had plenty of conservative ammo-sexuals to fleece. Over $60 million squeezed out of them to line their own pockets in just the last 3 years.
You seem upset. Did you send the new money?
I just made a donation in your name.
Then apparently you're incapable of reading others emotions. I think this is one of the funniest stories of the year. All those gun nuts sending in their piggy banks to support a handful of white collar criminal grifters who must have been laughing at the gullible rubes all the way to the bank.
What is funny to me is how you think all N.R.A memb red are fun nuts. Just shows ignorance
This story about the NRA reminded me of this:
POLITICS
NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals
If you've been sending the NRA money in the last 3 years after they essentially bowed to Trumpism, then you're almost certainly a gun nut. As for 'fun nuts', well I have no problem with them and doubt they've sent any money to these con artists. They're no doubt spending their money skydiving or paragliding.
I don't believe you know what a gun nut is.
The NRA has already filed a counter lawsuit seeking an injunction against Ms. James, claiming she was targeting the organization for political reasons.
Oh my! You mean the New York Attorney General might act out of political motivation?/s
Of course the the NRA filed an injunction.... they want the fleecing of those that donate to them to go on as is. That is of course you don't mind paying for private jets to go hunting in Africa for the executives.
Is that what the AG was concerned about? It sounds like it's really down to using friendly hotels etc. Stretching the meaning of a non-profit to whether it profits friends of the CEO seems political to me. Didn't Obama's IRS play a similar game when they destroyed the Tea Party just before the 2012 election?
If you're in the NRA then you're the victim here.
Has James won her case? Tell us how it went?
If your'e a gun owner, you have to wonder if this is part of a broader attack on 2nd Amendment rights.
I am a gun owner and this has nothing to do with gun rights. Wayne Pierre is a crook, stealing millions that should have gone to lobbying efforts for pro 2nd amendment causes but, instead, went to support a lavish lifestyle. He didn't steal it from me. I'm not a member.
If it had nothing to do with gun rights why is the leftist AG seeking to abolish the NRA???
Now that this is known and if people still send money, I don't feel sorry for them at all that they are being ripped off.
Back as a kid, they supported the safe hunter training programs and such, and both my father and I supported the organization. Once they became a political lobbying arm for gun makers, we both burned our membership cards.
They still support those programs. Perhaps you overlooked that because it doesn't fit the political talking points.
They were, and still remain, a political lobbying arm for gun OWNERS. Any support for gun makers is there because the manufacturers are essential for the free exercise of ownership. Burning the membership cards tells us a lot, but not about the NRA.
Joined the NRA as a Cub Scout and they taught me how to shoot. (actually my Marine uncle taught me how to shoot in the real world). Still own and shoot the Rem 700 1000 yard rifle that he trained me on.
It's impossible to take anyone serious that thinks there is only one amendment to the constitution XD..... Okay... I'll bite... what rights do you want to talk about that I've rejected?
If leadership is genuinely ripping people off, they should be held accountable. But the suggestion that the whole organization should be dissolved seems like a naked attack on a group's political point of view.
How did you come to that conclusion when ALL of the evidence cited by the AG is financial?
Multiple reasons. For one thing, obvious politics is obvious. The AG and her party have been strongly anti-NRA for a long time. Reasonable people cannot simply ignore that a bias exists.
The organization has operated for 150 years - most of it without this talk of corruption, so there is nothing inherent in the organization that inexorably leads to corruption. It is not necessary to dissolve the whole thing.
Four people are named in the suit. The Board of Directors has 82 people on it. The whole organization has 5 million members. All of that should be dissolved for the actions of four people? There's no logic in that. instead, it looks like extreme overreach. Likely motivation? Politics.
Which doesn't address your claim why the dissolution "seems like a naked attack on a group's political point of view" vs the charges that the NY AG actually cited.
Nothing the NY AG does could or would 'dissolve the whole thing'. The NRA's NY 'charity' is the only thing at issue here.
There you go blathering about the WHOLE organization again. Perhaps a review of the facts the NY case would help you address your comments to the ACTUAL issue at hand.
Or not...
Oh and BTFW, there is no empirical evidence that the NRA has 5 million members.
I expected nothing less. Thanks for playing.
Yet you have to truncate my comment in order to try and make your snarky comment.
Thanks for proving again that you're incapable of having a discussion without making personal comments.
If there are crimes being committed then they should go after them. The NRA isn't going anywhere but the leadership might need to change. If this is politically motivated then shame on the NYAG but if it's true then it's time for a house cleaning.
I don't know about dissolution but if the allegations turn out to be true then more financial oversight would be in order.
Solve the problem by turning them in to a corporation thus losing their 503c status. That way they don't have to report their internal spending to any government agency. They can fleece the membership as they please....
Betcha that would really work for the churches, eh?
Yeah - youbetcha.
Since when do churches report their internal spending or ANY of their spending for that matter?
Really and what does that have to do with the NRA?
I guess Google ISN'T everyone's friend!
LOL!
Why use google when you are already an "expert" internet (fill in the blank).
Since every year, when they file returns.
Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax
What do you think happens? They just declare themselves to be a church and then go on their merry way, never accounting to the IRS?
Actually, yes. Churches aren't required to do so. Many do, as I understand it, for accountability to their members, but as I understand it, filing isn't required.
I particularly like the 'estimated amount of other compensation'. Wow the detail of that report is overwhelming! /s
See 6.1.10.
Sounds like they think they have a case. If found guilty then the group should be held accountable. If not then things will go as they normally do. I've been loosely following the in fighting that has been going on with the NRA for the last couple of years. In May they laid off a bunch of workers, instituted a 4 day work week for others and cut everyone's salary. I wonder how much a protracted law suite will cost them?
The merits of this case are yet to be determined.
Here is what I do know - this will energized what tends to be a single issue voter - gun owners!
Thank you Letitia James !
Maybe. The NRA only has 5 million subscribers and has been losing money since the election of Trump. This might get more people to donate, but I'd not bet on it. As long as Lapierre is involved it I won't even think of renewing my membership.
That's an off topic remark. Meaning parents who have a child already, planning by using birth control, or using the morning after pill, etc., etc., etc. Going to Planned Parenthood who offer more services than birth control to low income folks, etc., etc., etc. Too bad certain folks try to cut off all funding to Planned Parenthood and other groups not allowing womens' own insurance to pay for their birth control.
But that's off topic.
What does that have to do with the NRA?
It is called an analogy.
I support both the NRA and Planned Parenthood
I bet if I brought it up though, it would be marked off topic, ya?
not going to happen....
all this case will do is raise millions in extra donations for the nra to support rightwing causes... LOL
"not going to happen....
all this case will do is raise millions in extra donations for the nra to support rightwing causes... LOL"
What's that expression about a fool and their money?
No, a fool gives his money to the NRA.
Sure you would. If you want to line their pockets with your money, that's on you.
A New York Attorney General can't dissolve a corporate charter issued in Virginia. This is nothing more than click-bait politics that, I speculate, has more to do with squeezing taxes than with any sort of corporate corruption. AG Letitia James is making a case to rescind the NRA's non-profit status in the state of New York which would open the door for retroactively collecting taxes. IMO, AG James is in it for the money. Typical New York politics.