Massive Blow to the NRA as Jury Finds Wayne LaPierre and Two Other Executives Liable in Corruption Trial

Since March For Our Lives was founded, the NRA has been hemorrhaging supporters, money, and now leaders. Now, after a letter by March For Our Lives led to an investigation and prosecution by the NYAG, its former longtime leader Wayne LaPierre was found liable in a civil corruption trial.

NEW YORK, NY — Today, in a stunning blow to the National Rifle Association (NRA), a jury has found its former long-standing CEO, Wayne LaPierre, liable in a high-profile corruption trial. The jury’s decision to convict LaPierre sends a powerful message that no one is above the law, not even the head of one of the most influential lobbying groups in the country. This landmark verdict serves as a turning point in the fight against gun violence and the undue influence of the NRA.

This decision comes after an investigation into the NRA’s finances by the New York Attorney General (NYAG), initiated after March For Our Lives looked into the NRA’s finances and wrote a letter to the NYAG about potentially illegal activity by the NRA.

When March For Our Lives was founded, the NRA was an untouchable and seemingly all-powerful political juggernaut. However, all it took was some meddling kids and a whole lot of determination to take down one of the largest and most powerful lobbying machines in American history.  From demanding legal action and exposing their corruption to campaigns that highlighted their illegal and immoral activities, March For Our Lives took on the NRA time and again, and since we marched in 2018 they’ve lost over a million members and nearly half their annual revenue. Now, the NRA is a shell of what it once was. They’ve learned the hard truth that young people and survivors are a force to be reckoned with. 

The corruption trial exposed a web of deceit and financial impropriety within the NRA, with evidence showing LaPierre using the organization’s funds for personal expenses. State lawyers found that LaPierre had spent over $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas, billed the NRA for over $11 million in private jet flights, and even authorized contracts for vendors who gave him free trips and access to a 108-foot yacht. This blatant misuse of resources proves what we already knew, that the NRA’s primary goal is not to defend people’s rights, but to use their money for their own personal goals.   

On November 19, 2018, the law firm Loeb & Loeb, on behalf of March For Our Lives, submitted a letter to then-acting New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood regarding potentially illegal activity by the National Rifle Association. The letter provided information that “suggests a long-standing pattern of significant governance lapses at the NRA, including a pattern of related-party financial transactions over a period of years that appears to have enriched friends and relatives of key personnel in the NRA, including the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, and his wife.” The original letter of complaint can be viewed in full here. 

Thoughts and prayers, Wayne.