wayne LAPIERRE nra
Former National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

For years Wayne LaPierre dismissed charges of malfeasance under his watch as unfounded. He fired or replaced whistleblowers like Col. Oliver North. And then Latitia James caught up with him.

On Friday, after six weeks of trial and five days of deliberations, a jury found the NRA’s now-former head “liable” in a civil corruption trial. While jail time never was on the menu in this civil trial, restitution and penalties certainly were. And the jury told ol’ Wayne to break out his checkbook. They tagged him for $4.3 million.

ABC7Chicago has the story:

NEW YORK — After five days of deliberations, a jury in New York on Friday held the National Rifle Association liable for financial mismanagement and found that Wayne LaPierre, the group’s former CEO, corruptly ran the nation’s most prominent gun rights group.

The jury determined that LaPierre’s violation of his duties cost the NRA $5,400,000, though he already repaid more than $1 million to the organization.

LaPierre, staring forward with his hands clasped in his lap, sat in the first row of the gallery while the jury read the verdict.

The New York Attorney General’s Office sued the NRA and its senior management in 2020, claiming they misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits — including private jets, family vacations and luxury goods. The accusations came at the end of a three-year investigation into the NRA, which is registered in New York as a nonprofit charitable corporation.

The jurors, who began deliberating on Feb. 16, were asked to weigh transactions like hair and makeup for LaPierre’s wife, payments or speaking fees to board members, and contracts with favored vendors willing to pay kickbacks.

LaPierre announced his resignation from the organization on Jan. 5, days before the start of the trial, citing health reasons, according to the NRA.

The lawsuit alleged that LaPierre filled executive positions at the NRA with unqualified loyalists in order to maintain control and conceal self-dealing, including co-defendants John Frazer, general counsel, and Woody Phillips, the former chief financial officer, the attorney general’s lawsuit said. The three of them stand accused of breaching the trust of donors by using charitable money for luxury travel, private planes and five-star hotels, along with entering into multimillion-dollar contracts with favored vendors willing to pay.

Time will tell if the court removes Mr. LaPierre’s cronies from leadership as well.

The organization spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees defending LaPierre and his buddies each year for the past few years. Hopefully that will end soon once this case is finally resolved.

Just imagine what the NRA might have accomplished in lobbying, training programs, competition programs and litigation if it wasn’t spending tens of millions on legal bills defending LaPierre and his pals. To say nothing of all of the extravagant expenses lavished upon WLP.

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67 COMMENTS

  1. maybe they can get back to business now…….

    my only question is where were these people with the Clinton foundation?

    • That’s right d after the top of the NRA got caught with their hands in the cookie jar I contributed to the new interim boss is going to be the same as the old boss. Frankly if I were a Gun Control zealot visiting this site and read your dribble and the post I received yesterday from no common sense I would walk away with a pleasing sht grin on my face.

      Sounds corrupt to the core doesn’t it?
      https://youtube.com/watch?v=siMmUTaavxE&feature=shared

  3. “NRA” credibility as an organization is forever tainted and damaged beyond repair.
    “Non-Profit”, my A$$.

    • that guy below…Pull you lips off the behinds of ny Gun Control zealots whose only motive was to get the NRA, they like you could care less about member contributions, the 2A, etc.

      If you were a NRA Life Member and to solidify your rant you would have noted receiving a 1st Freedom voting issue with a farewell letter from Wayne, etc. In other words the NRA is not going away so sit down twerp you have no podium.

      • Lil’ Debbie, I got my copy of “Shooting Illustrated” in the mail yesterday. Yeah, I read Wayne’s farewell letter, in which he admitted no blame nor responsibility. In fact, the NRA has a statement on their website today:

        “A jury verdict in a high-profile New York trial confirms what the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) contended all along – that it was victimized by certain former vendors and “insiders” who abused the trust placed in them by the Association. The jury found no cause to remove NRA General Counsel and Secretary John Frazer, the remaining NRA employee who is an individual defendant in the action.”

        IOW — “we wuz robbed!”

        • Was he even a subject matter for that jury’s discussion is the question in my mind. I never knew that Frazer was on trial!

  4. Dissolve the NRA. Fold the tent. Seize the assets. Revoke all memberships. Halt the training programs. Stop all legislative action. Remove the organization from any and all litigation in which it is involved. Disqualify all NRA instructors and their programs. No more programs such as Eddie Eagle, School Shield, scholarships, awards or shooting contests.

    It’s a victory for NY State Attorney General Leticia James, but it didn’t go as far as she had wanted:

    “Proposed Resolution: As a result of all the allegations mentioned above, Attorney General James seeks to dissolve the NRA; asks the court to order LaPierre, Phillips, Powell, and Frazer to make full restitution for funds they unlawfully profited and salaries earned while employees; pay penalties; recover illegal and unauthorized payments to the four individuals; remove LaPierre and Frazer from the NRA’s leadership (Phillips and Powell are no longer employed by the NRA); and ensure none of the four individual defendants can ever again serve on the board of a charity in New York.”

    She fell a bit short in her effort, but hope springs eternal — there are more suits with a similar aim:

    District of Columbia vs NRA Foundation Inc —

    “Concurrent with the NYAG’s suit against NRA and four of its former and current officers, the Attorney General of Washington, DC filed suit against the NRA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation created by the NRA to raise money and fund various educational projects and programs.”

    The victory is being cheered by the anti-gun activists:

    Giffords: “This verdict is no surprise, and it’s only the beginning of legal consequences for the NRA’s financial wrongdoing and abuse. The NRA has long been toppled from its seat of power, entrenched in scandal and extremism. Responsible gun owners have found a home at GIFFORDS instead, using their critical voices to fight for a safer America.”

    Brady: “I only wish our founders, Jim and Sarah Brady, who LaPierre and the NRA senselessly harassed for trying to free us from gun violence, could be here to see this day.

    “This fight is not over, while the NRA crumbles, the NSSF is poised to fill the power vacuum and take up the extremist mantle. Let’s not forget that to end this epidemic, we need to overhaul the entire industry. Accountability will be the key to our freedom.”

    Everytown: “We’re two months into 2024 and the NRA has already managed to lose this trial, their longtime leader, and whatever political relevance it had left,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “This verdict confirms what we’ve seen in recent elections, in state legislatures, and in the halls of Congress: the gun lobby has never been weaker and the gun safety movement has never been stronger.”

    Are you tired of all the winning yet?

        • You want to target innocent people, that makes you the bad guy! I go to the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM a few times a year. Those people are innocent in this and thy do far more for self defense and firearm training/responsibility than I do. Your communists ass wants them out of work. NRA certified instructors are not responsible for bad management either. Individuals are responsible for their actions, not someone associated with them… Guns don’t fire themselves either!

        • Gosh, Phillip — save some of that vitriol for d, Jiaz, Geoff, water walker …

          Make sure that you have enough to go ’round. No one likes to be left out.

        • Nope, I aimed it where it belongs. On your ignorant and weak ass. I’m tired of compromising with ignorance! That has destroyed our country.

    • That Guy:

      Do you ever get tired of blaming and ‘persecuting’ every one for the actions of one or a few?

      Typical left wing rant.

      Found guilty but his penalty is “Orders Him To Repay $4.3M For Misuse of Charitable Funds”

      While the state paid over $33,000,000 in tax payer dollars for its investigation and court battle, the giffords and brady paid nothing for this but grab the attention as though they were the ones that did this. What? You thought it doesn’t cost a state anything to do this stuff?

      But in the mean while, the NRA will continue on. But in effect, the anti-gun mantra of “the gun lobby has never been weaker and the gun safety movement has never been stronger.” is just as false now as it has been because the NRA was never the ‘gun lobby’, the anti-gun just spun it that way.

      And… sigh … “Responsible gun owners have found a home at GIFFORDS instead, using their critical voices to fight for a safer America.” is a logical fallacy deception. Just because some gun owners didn’t like what LaPierre did does not mean they ‘found a home at GIFFORDS instead’ and are joining any fight for the Giffords version of a Marxist socialist (AKA communist) tyranny imposed ‘safer America’ they are trying to bring about.

      Yep, real big victory there, penalize the tax payers and spread some more lies and logical fallacy deception around. Did the Giffords and Brady take credit for that too?

      Don’t you ever get tired of being played for a fool by the left-wing anti-gun agenda?

      • Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. (SWIDT? Hahahaha!)

        I only pulled quotes from the websites of the anti-gunners.

        I’m a member, just like Rusty and Lil’ Debbie. No one else commenting has “put their money where their mouth is” and admitted to supporting Wayne and Company — not even you, .40 cal, who’s kicking hardest but won’t pin the NRA badge on your lapel for all to see.

        • HuH?

          Project much.

          Seriously…I point out that the fallacy in what you posted in copy-paste and so gleefully agree with by your rant at the beginning of you post – to blame and ‘persecute’ ‘everyone’ for the actions of one or a few – a typical left wing rant concept…. your own words, and its “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.” basically admitting admitting it.

          Why don’t you just wear a big sign that screams “I’m a left wing anti-gun bigot and want to take away constitutional rights and make everyone suffer.” – its what your post rant screams.

        • Looks like the only one here ranting and screaming is you.

          “giffords and brady paid nothing for this”

          Bullshit. They don’t care about the taxes that NYers pay — they’ve been on a constant harangue against the NRA, they’ve raised money and donated it to anti-gunner candidates, and they’re now reaping the results of their efforts.

          “your own words, and its “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.””

          No, I pulled quotes from the websites showing the reactions of each. You took issue with what they said. So go to their sites and argue with them. Maybe they’ll be interested in your “context.”

          “Why don’t you just wear a big sign that screams “I’m a left wing anti-gun bigot”

          Why don’t you wear a sign that says “I disagree with anyone who disagrees with me and I’m going to call them names?” Grow up. I don’t give a shit about your ad hominems. You’re reduced to calling names, means that you don’t have an argument.

    • “Are you tired of all the winning yet?”

      Nope, the best has yet to come.

      Let the NRA whither, they’re dead to me at this point. With groups like the Second Amendment Foundation racking up the serious wins for our rights, the NRA is dead to me…

        • Why not include a postage-paid envelope with the ballots?
          Surely that wouldn’t cost as much as Wayne’s $4.3 mil.

          Since you’re just “riding out the remaining time in your membership,” you wouldn’t mind, would you?

    • Russ, if they don’t announce and carry out a total restructuring with none of the tainted ones poisoning it, I can’t support them any more…

      • I’m sure Leticia applauds your stance.

        She and the zombie army will be coming for you at (fill in the blank) soon enough.

        • Why not donate to a group that’s harder for them to attack (not incorporated in NY) and who is moving the ball forward in the 2A rights arena if the NRA can’t get its act together. What’s he’s asking for isn’t unreasonable. If there were people who were trying to fight for the sake of the NRA (oddly Ollie North seems to be in the right) they seem to have been forced out already. Now is the time to clean house and get the NRA focused on serving its members not its executives.

      • geoff…shouldn’t you be out campaigning for your gal pal nikki?…she needs your kind of help you politically inept azzhat.

        • “geoff…shouldn’t you be out campaigning for your gal pal nikki?

          You sound awfully cranky, debs.

          Is whoever you live with unable to ‘satisfy’ you? 🙂

    • @rusty

      +1 on the voting. Abandoning the NRA now is tantamount to joining the zombie army – and willing your assets to Soros and Bloomberg.

  7. Meh…the NRA hasn’t been relevant for awhile. And troll’s are out in force here🙄. I miss Dan let alone Farago.

  8. LaPierre Fined $4.4M, Philips Fined $2M, Frazer Will Not Be Removed > https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/2024/02/23/breaking-nra-guilty-as-charged-lapierre-fined-4-4m-philips-fined-2m-frazer-not-removed/

    Penalty: LaPierre Fined $4.4M

    Penalty: Philips Fined $2M

    Penality: Tax payers penalized over $33,000,000 in tax payer dollars for the investigation and court battle. The giffords and brady paid nothing for this but grab the attention as though they were the ones that did this. They are always ready to spend someone else’s money.

    Yeah, some victory there penalizing the tax payers with the highest penalty.

    The NRA will continue, and they should in their intended form. And contrary to the false narrative anti-gun pushes, the NRA is not the firearms lobby.

    • “The giffords and brady paid nothing for this but grab the attention as though they were the ones that did this.”

      Oh, really? How much did the anti-gunners contribute to Letitia James’s campaign?
      I bet they received a substantial return on that investment.

      For example: “Letitia James, With Cuomo’s Help, Raises $1 Million in Attorney General Race” — NY Times, 07/2018

  9. BREAKING NEWS: Federal Court Declares California Arms Ban Law Unconstitutional Under 2nd Amendment!

    U.S. District Court judge Roger Benitez issued major decision declaring California’s so-called billy club ban to be unconstitutional under the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner breaks down the opinion.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsiOt_q54tY

    • No. Much like BATFE, the FCC doesn’t get to create laws. You’ll have to bully the grifting soy boy a different way.

  14. Looks like Wayne got off easy! That $17 million golden parachute should cover the judgment. I wonder if its tax deductible! LOL

  15. Now impeach NY attorney general Latitia James and remove her from office. Strip her of her license to practice law. She is a morally bankrupt woman.

    She should be barred from ever holding public office again anywhere in the country. The one good thing she did was to prosecute Wayne Lapierre. And that one good thing does not erase, all the other morally corrupt things she has done.
    By using the law to go after innocent people.

    • Chris I agree. I think she is corrupt and stupid. She thinks we’re to stupid to see it but it’s quite obvious.
      wlp is a pos and badly needed to go so I can thank her for that.
      It was going to take some deep pockets to oust wlp and the state of NY will spare no amount of taxpayer money when fighting for gun control.
      With any luck this is the start of a major house cleaning. If so and the NRA comes back better than ever we can thank her for that as well.

      • Depending on when appeals to various judgements she has been involved in recently progress she may have a very interesting election pending. But yes stupid corrupt and utterly power hungry and thankfully predictable.

      • This was extremely painful. But it needed to happen. Now perhaps the rest of the NRA board, will be scared enough to just resign.

        Unfortunately, George Soros is funding many of these incredibly stupid and corrupt lawyers. Helping them to get elected into prosecutor positions.

        Perhaps the only saving grace is that they’re so stupid that they screw up. And get themselves prosecuted for the crimes that they stupidly commit. While in office.

  17. And yet Larry Potterfield and others are still fund raising for the jackasses. The NRA needs to go out of business, i.e. cease to be and another more transparent organization take its place. Transparency includes a membership voted in BOD, no supreme leader for life, membership or BOD annual approval of a published line item budget and annual 3rd party audit that is published for the membership. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    • Jimmy James:
      NRA (if it is to survive) needs a SMALLER board of directors. About nine (9) members would be about right. And there should be term limits on all management positions including board members. And… the board should have the power to REMOVE the CEO or any other officer by a simple majority no matter what.
      I got the new ballot this week with about 30 some people bragging about their this and that and SHREDDED it. I did that because it is not possible for make informed decisions on it the way things are now, and I refuse to vote for a bunch of ineffective FUDDS.

  18. “Jury Finds NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Guilty…”

    Not really. This was a civil case. Found ‘liable’.

    In Letitia James press release she even says it with “Following the jury determination of liability…” and you even say it in your article with “a jury found the NRA’s now-former head ‘liable’.

    ‘Liable’ and ‘guilty’ are two different things.

    Guilty refers to being responsible for committing an offense, while liable means being legally responsible for something such as a debt or obligation.

    The burden of proof is higher for guilty than for liable. For ‘guilty’ there is a ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’, while liable only requires a preponderance of the evidence.

    If there had been enough evidence of a criminal offense for ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ this would have been a criminal trial and it wasn’t.

    So this was in effect, at expensive cost to tax payers more than $33,000,000.00 expended by the state for this, a court trial to basically tell LaPierre ‘ya gotta pay the money back’ just like a civil case against anyone that would, for example, be told by a liability judgement they need to pay back a loan they failed to pay and happens hundreds of times in courts around the country every week.

    So overall, in effect, this didn’t actually do to the NRA what the anti-gun interests Giffords and Brady say with their claims of ‘defeating the gun lobby’ stuff and besides the NRA was never the ‘gun lobby’. In short, when it comes down to it, the anti-gun interest have been chasing a ‘boogy man’ they created and never really existed and did not have the ‘evidence’ of the ‘criminality crimes’ they claimed or implied happened.

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