BREAKING NEWS: New York Attorney General Letitia James sues to dissolve the NRA claiming leaders mismanaged funds and committed fraud to support their luxury lifestyles
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Thursday that she was suing the NRA, claiming its former leadership mismanaged funds and doled out lucrative, fake deals to former employees to fund their lavish lifestyles.
James – who is a vocal Trump critic and is anti-guns -issued a press release on Thursday announcing the lawsuit shortly before a scheduled press conference. She had teased the press conference on Wednesday, saying it was a ‘big announcement’.
James claims that former Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre, former Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Wilson ‘Woody’ Phillips, former Chief of Staff and the Executive Director of General Operations Joshua Powell, and Corporate Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer used the NRA as a ‘personal piggy bank’.
She claims in her lawsuit that they used NRA funds to pay for ‘trips for them and their families to the Bahamas, private jets, and expensive meals.’
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James declined to comment on speculation surrounding her subpoena to Deutsche Bank for Donald Trump’s bank records which many thought would be the subject of the press conference.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Thursday that she was suing the NRA,
In a statement, James said:’The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets.
‘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.’
At a press conference later on Thursday, James said the suit sent a ‘strong, loud message’.
‘There is one set of laws Today, we send a loud message that no one is above the law – not even the NRA. One of the most powerful organizations in this country,’ she said.
James dismissed claims that she was going after the NRA to try to harm Trump and his re-election campaign, claiming the investigation started in 2019 and that it was down to the organization serving as a ‘personal piggy bank’ for its executives.
She said it should be dissolved and not restructured because the alleged fraud was so ‘broad’.
James also insisted the suit had nothing to do with her personal feelings on guns, and that it was because the organization had ‘broken not for profit law’.
The lawsuit claims that Wayne LaPierre hired his friends in the 1990s and then used NRA funds – which had been donated by supporters – to pay for a luxury lifestyle.
‘Yacht trips in the Bahamas, private jets, gifts, black car services and lucrative consulting contracts for ex-employees and board members’ are among the things she claims he spent the money on.
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