Democrat Attorney Files Lawsuit Against NRA On The Grounds Of Fraud And Wasteful Spending

In a shocking reveal, New York’s attorney general Letitia James slapped corruption charges against the National Rifle Association.

In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, James alleged that the senior leaders, including Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the non-profit, misused the funds for personal purposes: family trips, private jets and buying the loyalty of former employees. This led to a deficit of $64 million in NRA’s balance sheet in three years.

The lawsuit against NRA isn’t a first of sorts. Prior to this, attorney general for Washington, D.C. filed a similar lawsuit against the NRA for alleged misuse of charitable funds.

The NRA in retaliation to James’s claims sued her back on the grounds that the attorney violated NRA’s right to free speech, and sought to block her investigation. The non-profit labeled the lawsuit as “baseless, premeditated attack” and a “power grab” tied to the campaign. In a suit of its own, the NRA accused James of planning to attack the NRA, ever since she contested for the post of the attorney general in 2018.

In the Democrat attorney’s statements, she stated how the NRA leaders “failed to comply with the NRA’s own internal policies in addition to state and federal law” after resorting to unlawful tactics to exhaust millions of dollars from NRA reserves.

The legal tussle positions James against the largest and most powerful gun organization in the United States. NRA reportedly is in close alignment with President Trump’s Republican Party.

James appeared before the press soon after she registered a lawsuit, and reiterated how the NRA had shrunk into a breeding ground for “greed, abuse and brazen illegality.” During the briefing, James refuted sweeping statements made by the NRA that the New York suit had anything to do with NRA’s support for Trump.

She further claimed that NRA’s power had gone unchecked for decades, “which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA.”

On the other hand, Gun control groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, both funded by billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, lauded the lawsuit. “We have been warning regulators and the public about this corruption for years,” Everytown recently tweeted.