In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday, James accused current and former NRA executives, such as CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, General Counsel John Frazer, former CFO Woody Phillips and former Chief of Staff Joshua Powell, of misusing the advocacy group’s funds to purchase things like expensive family trips to the Bahamas and private aircraft flights. These fraudulent activities contributed to a loss of more than $64 million for the NRA during a three-year period, according to the suit.
James also called for the dissolution of the NRA in a Thursday news release from her office, saying that its “influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets.” She further accused the NRA of being “fraught with fraud and abuse."
“The state has a legitimate interest in regulating nonprofits, especially when they become so powerful that they are then allowed to engage in such massive fraud like this,” Rowley told Loud & Clear host John Kiriakou on Thursday. “So, it makes a lot of sense to do this as a civil matter. Now later, they could also of course tack on criminal charges against individuals.”
LaPierre faces the most allegations, having been accused of stealing around $1.2 million from the organization to buy gifts, pay for private plane trips and even hire private security for his family.
In a statement released Thursday, James revealed that the investigation is ongoing and that if any criminal activity is uncovered, it will be referred to the Manhattan district attorney.
“At this point in time we’re moving forward, again, with civil enforcement,” she noted.
However, with the filing being a civil lawsuit, it could take years for the investigation into the NRA to be completed.
“Civil cases always go to the back of the line. They give criminal cases priority, and the civil cases do take years, years and years,” Rowley noted.
The NRA has managed to fool its membership and retain its power through propaganda, Rowley added, noting that “power that is unchecked” is dangerous and corruptive.
“And the NRA became very powerful, a lot of this through this advertising and what you could actually say is propaganda. And they misled, in my opinion, they misled the membership in a couple of ways, which is that they scared them into thinking they would have to stop hunting and give up their guns and become like other countries where hunting is a lot more regulated than it is here. They scared them into thinking that,” Rowley added.