MANHATTAN (CN) — Wayne LaPierre took the witness stand one last time in New York’s corruption case against him on Wednesday, when he told a Manhattan jury that he paid back the National Rifle Association for a slew of donor-funded personal expenses.
The longtime NRA chief executive told the court he wrote a series of checks between 2020 and 2023 that amounted to more than $1 million — the figure he determined he owed the organization for private flights, black car service, clothing and more.
“I was confident that we had covered anything that could possibly be an issue,” LaPierre said Wednesday. “And I could look in the mirror and face God and say I've done everything I can to make this right and square.”
The New York attorney general’s office accuses LaPierre of using the NRA as his “personal piggy bank” by spending donor funds on luxury travel and goods, which it claims did nothing to further the goals of the organization. LaPierre and his co-defendants have long countered that he repaid the organization for those buys.
But his Wednesday testimony walked a familiar tightrope. LaPierre had previously claimed that his spending was always NRA-related, while simultaneously asserting he paid back any charges that raised “doubts.”
“I wanted to completely do the right thing,” he said Wednesday. “I wanted to be completely squared up, so if there was any doubt, I was overinclusive. I erred on the NRA’s side.”
LaPierre had claimed earlier in the trial that his method of billing the NRA — which included running the expenses through the organization’s public relations firm to mask the spending — was “not the right thing to do.”
Still, the attorney general argues, the $1 million LaPierre claimed to repay was a drop in the bucket. The NRA paid roughly $13 million for LaPierre’s private flights between 2012 and 2019, state lawyer Jonathan Conley said Wednesday.
LaPierre said he wasn’t aware of the dollar amount, just that he was instructed to fly private for security reasons. He recounted a 2013 swatting incident that he said stepped up his need for precautions.
“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 said. “That’s when they said the threat level was so high that I had to start flying private.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James also claims LaPierre tampered with the appointment of NRA officers and failed to disclose numerous conflicts of interest.
For instance, film producer David McKenzie, whom LaPierre hired to produce TV shows for the NRA, also happened to be the owner of several yachts, which he allowed LaPierre to use on a number of globetrotting expeditions.
As his personal relationship with LaPierre flourished, McKenzie continued to receive payments from the NRA for years after he stopped producing shows for it.
LaPierre claimed Wednesday that he didn’t find out until years later.
“I was shocked when I still saw bills coming in,” LaPierre said, and he encouraged the NRA to “terminate the relationship” with McKenzie’s production studio.
The defense rested its case on Wednesday, putting an end to roughly six weeks of testimony between the state and the four defendants. Counsel will deliver closing arguments on Thursday and the jury will start deliberating on Friday.
Depending on the jury’s findings, LaPierre and his co-defendants could owe millions in damages to the NRA. The nonprofit also could be forced to replace executives and enforce new compliance policies.
James initially hoped to remove LaPierre from the helm of the NRA, but the 74-year-old beat her to the punch in January. Just days before the start of the trial, LaPierre stepped down as the NRA’s chief after more than 30 years in charge.
He cited health complications from his chronic Lyme disease as the primary reason. The condition also forced him to fragment his testimony throughout the trial to combat fatigue, according to his lawyer.
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