The second phase of the National Rifle Association corruption trial in New York, where a judge will determine whether the group's former leadership should face any non-monetary penalties for misspending the prominent gun rights organization’s money, is set to begin Monday. A jury found that longtime NRA head Wayne LaPierre squandered millions of dollars of the organization’s money to fund his lavish lifestyle. He was ordered to pay the organization $4.35 million in damages. Now, Judge Joel Cohen will decide whether any other relief against LaPierre, the NRA and another executive should be awarded, reports The Hill. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued the NRA and tits op leadership in 2020, has asked the judge to install an independent monitor who would oversee the organization’s administration of its charitable assets. James also wants to bar LaPierre from serving in leadership positions at any New York charitable organization and to ban the NRA and general counsel John Frazer from collecting funds from any charitable organizations in the state.
A third executive, ex-chief financial officer Woody Phillips, was found liable for violating the law and ordered to pay $2 million but settled with the attorney general’s office, allowing him to dodge the trial’s second phase. He was banned for 10 years from managing money for any New York nonprofit in a deal that was made public last week. “New Yorkers deserve to know that when they support a not-for-profit, those donations are being used to advance its mission, not squandered on lavish perks for staff or cronies,” James said. In court filings, the NRA warned that such penalties could imperil the gun rights organization’s future, describing the attorney general’s request as “expensive” and “redundant.” The NRA has struggled with shrinking membership and financial woes, including an attempt at bankruptcy in 2021. The group’s membership fell to 3.8 million by the end of 2023, some 1.35 million down from its 2018 peak.