MANHATTAN (CN) — National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday that his all-expenses-paid hunting trips to Botswana and Mozambique were “all business.”
LaPierre is being accused of using the NRA as his “personal piggy bank” by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case against him in 2020.
He spent much of Tuesday trying to justify the many miscellaneous expenses he billed back to the NRA throughout his tenure as its chief executive, many of which violated the group’s internal policies.
LaPierre said he took some NRA-sponsored safaris and rubbed elbows with celebrities to “compete in Hollywood and further the mission of the NRA.”
“To me, it was all business,” LaPierre testified, adding that those efforts were “very successful.”
During those trips LaPierre filmed an NRA show called “Under Wild Skies,” where he would participate in big game hunts.
Correll asked him if he enjoyed going on those all-expense-paid trips.
“It was interesting for me,” LaPierre replied. “I’ve never done it before. I was a novice… The truth is, it was business. I would never take a shot without it being on camera. The purpose was to produce a television show. That’s what I was there for. It was work.”
On Monday, LaPierre had claimed that a number of other personal expenses were necessary for the betterment of the NRA — including private flights and a home landscaping bill, both of which LaPierre says were for his safety.
LaPierre testified that he ran a bulk of these expenses through Ackerman McQueen, the group’s longtime public relations firm, who sent those bills back to the NRA in nondescript invoices. He admitted that these were not the “best practices” nor the “right thing to do” at the time, but also claims that he paid the NRA back for everything he owes.
LaPierre’s time as NRA chief is coming to an end. The 74-year-old said earlier this month that he plans to resign from the organization, effective Jan. 31, after more than 30 years at the helm. That announcement came just days before this trial — a civil corruption case against LaPierre and the NRA for misusing the nonprofit’s funds to buy private flights, gifts and other personal expenses.
Given the timing of his resignation, speculations arose that LaPierre was stepping down to ease the potential fallout of the trial. But LaPierre on Tuesday claimed that his decision was purely health-related, and one that his doctors have been pushing for years to treat his late-stage Lyme disease.
“All of them said that if I had any chance of recovering, I could not continue to be working,” he said.
LaPierre said his Lyme disease progression made it impossible for him to work. It’s the reason his testimony had to be fragmented over the past several days; his lawyer Kent Correll repeatedly asserted that LaPierre would be unable to testify past 3 p.m. due to the eye pain and fatigue he experienced from his illness.
“My eyes work so hard to see that it affects my brain,” LaPierre said. “I started to have cognitive issues… I just concluded I can no longer do my job anymore.”
LaPierre added that he “felt really bad about stepping down,” and would happily continue serving the NRA and its mission if not for the “tremendous pain” he experienced every day he walked into the office.
“I tried fighting through it,” he said. “But all my doctors told me I was risking a catastrophic medical incident.”
LaPierre finished his testimony and was excused from the witness stand Tuesday well before his typical 3 p.m. health deadline. Next to testify was John Frazer, the NRA’s general counsel and a co-defendant in this case alongside LaPierre.
Frazer is accused of helping cover up LaPierre’s errant spending by overlooking his lack of compliance with NRA policy. The attorney general claims LaPierre hired Frazer purely for his loyalty, and says Frazer lacked the legal experience to take on such a role.
“There is no indication from Frazer’s seven years with a law license — only 18 months of which entailed representing clients — that he had relevant legal experience in corporate governance, corporate compliance, tax exempt organization requirements, not-for-profit organization requirements, or the law governing boards and board procedure,” James wrote in her complaint.
Frazer on Tuesday told the jury that, despite the position he held, he was not involved in several key legal moves made by the NRA, namely the NRA’s lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen and its decision to file bankruptcy.
He added that he was barely involved in enforcing the NRA’s policy surrounding conflicts of interest, which LaPierre admitted he violated when he didn’t disclose his personal relationship with an NRA vendor.
“Typically, it would really be an audit committee policy,” Frazer said.
Frazer said LaPierre always was honest with him, despite the group chief later admitting to violating NRA policy on billing and conflicts. Frazer didn’t believe that LaPierre had violated his trust by withholding some of this information from him — but he couldn’t say the same for other NRA members.
“Did he breach the trust of other members of the NRA?” state attorney Emily Stern asked.
“I’d have to say probably, yes,” Frazer said. “Policies should be followed.”
Frazer will return to the witness stand on Wednesday to resume his testimony.
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