by Ben Whedon
A New York jury on Friday held the National Rifle Association and ex-CEO Wayne LaPierre liable in a suit over lavish spending, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The jury determined that LaPierre spent millions on perks for himself and ordered that he pay $4,351,231 in restitution, according to the Associated Press. Any funds he pays in connection with the verdict will go back to the organization.
Jurors further determined that he caused a total of $5.4 million in damages to the group but had already repaid more than $1 million, CNN reported.
A judge will later decide whether to bar LaPierre and fellow defendants John Frazer, the NRA general counsel, and Wilson Philips, the ex-financial chief, from holding leadership posts in charities doing business in New York.
James had claimed that the NRA curated “a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight.”
LaPierre resigned as head of the NRA in January ahead of the lawsuit.
“I’ve been a card-carrying member of this organization for most of my adult life, and I will never stop supporting the NRA and its fight to defend Second Amendment freedom. My passion for our cause burns as deeply as ever,” he said at the time.
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Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.
Photo “Wayne LaPierre” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
