NRA lawsuit: who are the four leaders accused of corruption?
A lawsuit by Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, has sued the powerful National Rifle Association, and also its four top leaders in an attempt to expose alleged corruption and misuse of funds.
Related: New York attorney general sues to shut down NRA, alleging 'brazen illegality'
Who are they and what are they accused of doing?
Wayne LaPierre
The NRA executive vice-president and chief executive has led the group for 39 years. His best-known mantra, repeated after mass shootings in the US, including in schools, is: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
He has called for armed guards at every school in America and he leads lobbying efforts against any new laws proposed to curb gun sales, or any restrictive interpretation of the US constitution’s second amendment about the right to bear arms.
Thursday’s lawsuit alleges he “has exploited the organization for his financial benefit … [and] to continue, by use of a secret ‘poison pill contract’, his employment even after removal and ensuring NRA income for life; and to intimidate, punish, and expel anyone at a senior level who raised concerns about his conduct. The effect has been to divert millions of dollars away from the charitable mission.”
He is accused of diverting NRA funds for “trips to the Bahamas to vacation on a yacht owned by the principal of numerous NRA vendors … costly black car services, gifts for favored friends”.
LaPierre was invited to the White House two weeks after Donald Trump took office in 2017, after the NRA donated at least $30m to his election campaign.
Related: How NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre became Trump's left-hand man
Wilson Phillips
Phillips was a former treasurer and chief financial officer of the NRA for 26 years, until 2018, when he retired.
He is popularly known as “Woody” and is described by the lawsuit as being “among the senior executives LaPierre handpicked to facilitate his misuse of charitable assets”. He and two other fellow defendants are described as having been hired despite a lack of skills and experience.
Phillips is accused of facilitating millions of dollars in entertainment and travel expenses incurred by NRA executives and being improperly billed to the group and evading IRS requirements.
A report in the New Yorker last year alleged that before working for the NRA, in the early 90s, Phillips was quietly fired by a consultancy firm in Washington DC after a $1m embezzlement.
He was hired for the NRA by LaPierre in 1993. Between 2005 and 2017 he was paid at least $10m, the New Yorker said, citing available tax filings.
Joshua Powell
Powell is a former NRA chief of staff and executive director of general operations.
According to the lawsuit, Powell was fired by the NRA in January 2020 for falsifying expenses. He allegedly exploited his NRA credit card and ran up huge bills at “a high-end Italian restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia”.
Before that Phillips nearly tripled his salary in less than three years, to $800,000, despite three complaints of abusive behavior, and evidence of illegal conduct and inappropriate spending, the lawsuit says.
He began working for the NRA in January 2017, brought in to “modernize” the NRA, and in December 2018, LaPierre created the role of senior strategist for Powell.
Powell was accused of sexual harassment in the workplace, which he denied, according to an investigation by the Trace and ProPublica.
Millions of dollars of NRA funds were misappropriated with Powell’s assistance, the lawsuit says, and he secured contracts that secretly benefited family members.
John Frazer
Frazer is the NRA corporate secretary and general counsel. When the native New Yorker joined the NRA, he is described in the lawsuit as having only had only “a brief 18-month tenure in private practice and was unprepared to manage the legal and regulatory affairs of the NRA”.
He has been the secretary and general counsel and ex officio director of the NRA since 2015 and has worked at the NRA since 1993, the lawsuit says. Attorney General James seeks his ousting from the group.
He is accused of assisting LaPierre in diverting millions in NRA funds for the chief executive’s allegedly luxurious lifestyle.
“Frazer permitted the NRA to secretly pay millions of dollars to several board members through consulting arrangements that were neither disclosed to, nor approved by, the NRA board,” the lawsuit says.
He allegedly signed off on false financial filings to the authorities by the group, including documents submitted to the New York Charities Bureau.
