The National Rifle Association is facing dissolution after an 18-month investigation by New York’s attorney general found widespread fraud and abuse, NPR reported Thursday.
According to the report, Attorney General Letitia James has moved to dissolve the right-wing gun-lobbying group, claiming in a lawsuit filed Thursday that her investigators found egregious financial misconduct that contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.
“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James said in a statement. “The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”
The complaint names four current and former NRA executives who allegedly misused charitable funds for personal gain and awarded contracts to friends, families and former employees to ensure loyalty.
The suit also asks a court to order longtime chief Wayne LaPierre and others named in the complaint to pay back unlawful gains, and seeks to remove LaPierre and general counsel John Frazer.
