By Sabrina Souza and Emma Tucker | CNN
A jury in a lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General’s Office against the National Rifle Association found Friday that the powerful gun rights group mismanaged its charitable funds when it failed to stop its top executives — including its longtime leader, Wayne LaPierre — from diverting millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures.
In its verdict, the jury found LaPierre should pay the powerful gun rights group $4.3 million in damages for mismanagement and misspending charitable funds on lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures.
The jury found he violated his fiduciary duties from 2014 to 2022 when he was at the helm of the non-profit group. The panel said he caused $5.4 million in damages to the NRA by violating his statutory duties, but he proved he already repaid a little over $1 million to the charity.
The jury also found cause to remove him as executive vice president of the gun rights group. Although he resigned last month, the judge will decide whether to permanently bar him from leading the NRA in an upcoming bench trial.
But the jury did not find him liable for breaking laws against self-dealing when he secured a post-employment contract with the NRA in a package that the New York Attorney General’s Office valued at over $17 million, finding that it was properly approved in advance by the NRA board.
The panel found the NRA improperly entered into some deals that benefited its insiders, including its top executives and board members, without proper board approval or ratification. The improper self-dealing included a post-employment consulting contract with the NRA’s former CFO Wilson Phillips, and hair and makeup expenses for LaPierre’s wife.
The jury also found the NRA filed false and misleading statements in its annual reports.
In addition, the jury found the NRA violated whistleblower protection laws by failing to have an appropriate whistleblower policy in place and by failing to investigate whistleblower complaints or retaliating against eight whistleblowers who came forward with concerns.
The jury found the NRA was not liable for only one claim, which asked whether LaPierre’s post-employment contract was an improper transaction. The jury found the New York Attorney General’s Office did not prove the transaction had not received proper approval from the NRA board.
The jury began deliberations February 16 in a case that spotlights one of the most powerful lobbying groups in a nation with more civilian guns than people.