Update to The NRA’s Fraudulent Bankruptcy Tossed Out; New York AG Can Now Dissolve The NRA.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued a year ago to dissolve the New York-chartered nonprofit, said in a revised complaint filed Monday that the NRA’s “evasion of accountability” “continues unabated.” She said the organization’s leaders deliberately disregarded proper corporate governance, wasted charitable assets, falsely reported unfair transactions, and allowed insiders to take advantage of the NRA. NRA Must Be Dissolved After Failing to Clean Up Misconduct, N.Y. Says:
James said in a revised lawsuit in New York state court that a failed bid for bankruptcy protection earlier this year exposed the hollowness of the organization’s claim to reform mismanagement, including a grandiose by its longtime leader Wayne Lapierre. expenses and other serious defaults were involved. The attorney general said the bankruptcy judge had also cited the “shocking” level of authority exercised over the group.
The National Rifle Association hasn’t cleared massive financial and managerial misconduct over the past year, indicating the need to disband the gun-rights group, the revised lawsuit says.
Several alleged misdemeanors were uncovered during a bankruptcy trial in Texas federal court, where in May a judge dismissed an attempt to restructure the NRA because it was not filed in good faith. The court wrote that the bankruptcy of the NRA was part of an unfair effort to avoid James’ lawsuit. The judge also said he was concerned about the “secret way” in which Lapierre excluded NRA board members and officials from his decision to file for bankruptcy.
An NRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new filing.
After suing James last year, the NRA first filed its charitable tax return with the Internal Revenue Service to disclose that Lapierre “expended charitable assets to personally benefit himself.” The erroneous “extra-profit transaction implicates many NRA officers and board members,” the attorney general wrote.
Treasurer dismissed
Breaking with years of precedent, the organization’s then-treasurer refused to sign the NRA’s 2019 federal tax form, after several other senior NRA officers and directors declined requests to certify its veracity and accuracy, known as 990, James wrote.
One of the treasurer’s concerns was the discovery that several board members were regularly traveling first class with verbal approval from Lapierre. According to the amended complaint, “there is no ‘Wayne Said’ approval in the NRA,” the official wrote in an email.
The complaint said that instead of thoroughly reviewing senior officers who received additional benefits, the NRA focused on officers who had a dispute with LaPierre. Lapierre fired the treasurer in January 2021, two weeks after the NRA filed for bankruptcy. Complaint. The NRA boss later testified under oath at the bankruptcy hearing that the treasurer had expressed his desire to move for “health reasons.” According to James, “these representations were false.”
The case New York State v. National Rifle Association, 451625/2020, Supreme Court of the State of New York (New York)