MANHATTAN (CN) — A Manhattan jury on Friday found that Wayne LaPierre engaged in corruption and self-dealing against the National Rifle Association while at the helm of the New York-based nonprofit.
After nearly five full days of deliberation, the six-person jury reached a verdict that agreed with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ assessment that LaPierre had used the NRA as his “personal piggy bank” while serving as the group’s chief executive.
The jurors found LaPierre cost the NRA $5.4 million in monetary harm through the "violations of his statutory duties," but that he already repaid the NRA approximately $1 million. LaPierre will owe the NRA the approximate $4.4 million difference.
Hair and makeup expenses for LaPierre’s wife Susan was one particular charge that jurors took issue with. During the trial, it was revealed that her hair and makeup appointments cost the NRA tens of thousands of dollars, which the jury ruled Friday was a related party transaction unapproved by the NRA’s board of directors.
The jury also found that the NRA, a co-defendant in the unusual case, violated New York nonprofit law by failing to protect whistleblowers and enforce a sufficient whistleblower policy.
Following the verdict, James called the verdict a “major victory” in her effort to “stop the corruption and greed at the NRA.”
“For years, Wayne LaPierre used charitable dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending millions on luxury travel, expensive clothes, insider contracts, and other perks for himself and his family,” James said in a statement. “LaPierre and senior leaders at the NRA blatantly abused their positions and broke the law. But today, after years of rampant corruption and self-dealing, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA are finally being held accountable. We will not hesitate to pursue justice against any individual or organization that violates our laws or our trust, no matter how powerful they are.”
James sued LaPierre and the NRA in 2020, accusing LaPierre of using millions of dollars of donor funds for private flights, clothing and luxury travel while the NRA did nothing to stop him.
“For nearly three decades, Wayne LaPierre has served as the chief executive officer of the NRA and has exploited the organization for his financial benefit, and the benefit of a close circle of NRA staff, board members, and vendors,” James claimed in her 169-page complaint.
Just days before the trial, LaPierre resigned after serving as the group’s CEO for more than 30 years. He cited health issues as a reason for his departure, later revealing to the court that he suffers from chronic Lyme disease.
LaPierre’s individual co-defendants, longtime NRA finance chief Wilson “Woody” Phillips and NRA general counsel John Frazer, were both accused of helping LaPierre skirt oversight on his errant expenses. The jury found that both men violated their “statutory obligation to discharge the duties of [their] position in good faith.”
However, they found Phillips caused the NRA $2 million in monetary harm, while Frazer cost the nonprofit nothing. The jury was most favorable to Frazer, the only defendant still serving as an NRA executive, finding that there is no cause for his removal.
Immediately following the verdict, LaPierre’s lawyer Kent Correll requested a directed verdict from Justice Joel Cohen, contrary to the jury’s findings. Cohen didn’t immediately rule on the motion.
Now, a second bench trial under Cohen will determine injunctive relief, which could ban LaPierre from returning as CEO.
Throughout the six-week trial, LaPierre argued that his exorbitant spending was driven by safety concerns. He testified that he was the victim of a swatting incident in 2013, received numerous death threats and was harassed in public.
As a result, LaPierre claims he was told by NRA security that he “must fly private.”
“That was the beginning of the harassment that started not only on the street, in restaurants, in airports, but it had started at the house,” LaPierre testified this month. “That’s when they said the threat level was so high that I had to start flying private.”
State attorneys claimed that the NRA paid roughly $13 million for LaPierre’s private flights between 2012 and 2019. Despite the safety concerns, LaPierre conceded at trial that billing some of these travel costs to the NRA was “not the right thing to do.”
LaPierre said that the roughly $1 million he paid back to the NRA covered any charges he thought could raise “doubts.”
“I was confident that we had covered anything that could possibly be an issue,” LaPierre said earlier this month. “And I could look in the mirror and face God and say I’ve done everything I can to make this right and square.”
Evidently, the jury found him to be more than $4 million short.
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