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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSummary of the worst of the alleged NRA abuses. Wowza
Link to tweet
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igorvolsky
@igorvolsky
·
Aug 6, 2020
1/ I just finished reading @NewYorkStateAGs 169 page lawsuit against @NRA and Im shocked beyond belief at the level of corruption, lawlessness, and self-dealing.
What follows is a THREAD that highlights the very worst abuses alleged by @TishJames.
Buckle in.
2/ To sum it up, LaPierre & his lieutenants spent millions of dollars in membership dues paid by @NRA members who were told their #2A rights were at risk... on lavish trips & vacations, kickbacks and sweetheart deals... all in violation of NRA rules & IRS requirements
3/ According to the lawsuit, LaPierre spent *at least* $1.3 million chartering private flights between 2016 and 2018 for himself and his family members.
Turns out, he wasnt even present on many of those flights!
4/ From May 2015 to April 2019, @NRA incurred over 1 million dollars in expenses for private flights when LaPierre was not a passenger.
5/ In October 2016, LaPierre authorized a private flight for his wife to fly alone from Madison, WI, to Kearney, NE.
Asked why she did not use a commercial airline, LaPierre testified I think it was probably easier to fly private, more convenient.
Cost of flight: $8,800.
6/ LaPierre and his family visited the Bahamas by private air charter on at least 8 occasions, at a cost of $500,000+ to @NRA.
On many of those trips, LaPierre and his family were gifted the use of a 107-foot yacht owned by @NRA vendor.
7/ @NRA rails against Hollywood elite & celebrities, but LaPierre testified he visits the Bahamas in December to attend a celebrity retreat organized by an individual who also happens to be a principal stakeholder in businesses that have business relationships with NRA!
8/ When LaPierre attends these retreats, which are normally held annually in the Bahamas in December, he stays at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.
9/ But dont worry, LaPierre often visits the Bahamas in the summer as well! During these trips, he stays on a 108-foot yacht named Illusions.
It has 4 staterooms, a 16-foot jet boat, and 2 jet skis.
LaPierre described Illusions as a big, big yacht w/ a crew & a chef
10/ LaPierre has never disclosed his use of the yacht on @NRA Financial Disclosure Questionnaires that he, as an officer and ex officio director of the NRA, must submit to the NRA Secretary annually.
Oops?
11/ LaPierre testified he has never received a gift of value in excess of $250 from an @NRA contractor or employee of an NRA contractor.
But of course LaPierres use of the yacht constituted a gift from an NRA contractor in excess of $250 requiring disclosure under NRA policy.
12/ LaPierre also testified that he has stayed on Illusions during two European trips for the purpose of recruiting ~celebrities~ for @NRA.
13/ @NRA uses a dedicated travel agency. But theyre not good enough for LaPierre.
@NewYorkStateAG's lawsuit reveals LaPierre uses his own travel consultant -- and pays them exorbitant fees (with @NRA membership dues of course).
14/ In 2014, the fixed fee for LaPierre's travel agents services was $15,000 a month.
In May 2015, LaPierres Travel Consultants monthly fee increased to $19,000.
15/ From August 2014 to January 2020, @NRA paid LaPierres Travel Consultant more than **$13.5 million**
In 2018, the NRA paid LaPierres Travel Consultant $2,630,531.71
In the first six months of 2019 alone, the NRA paid LaPierres Travel Consultant $1,007,597.80
I mean...
16/ If that wasnt enough, @NRA also reimburses LaPierre for exorbitant personal expenses.
Between 2013 and 2017, LaPierre was reimbursed for more than $1.2 million in expenses, including...
17/ Some of LaPierre's personal expenses reimbursed by @NRA:
- $65,000 for Christmas gifts for his staff, donors, friends.
- $648.55 in gifts from Neiman Marcus to that highly paid travel consultant
- $1,590 in Christmas gifts to the co-founder of Ackerman
18/ Each of these gifts was substantially in excess of the $25 limit permitted by the IRS for business gifts. To say the least.
19/ Fancy hotel rooms for family members were also paid for by @NRA:
- $12,332.75 for his nieces 8-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dallas, TX.
- In 2016 and 2017, LaPierre was reimbursed over $38,000 in expenses for his nieces airfare & lodging
20/ Between 2009 and 2017, LaPierre expensed over $100,000 in membership fees for a golf club located in the Washington D.C. area.
21/ LaPierre has a separate budget to pay consultants.
It won't surprise you that a lot of these consultant contracts were processed & paid for without any written contracts in place...
22/ Oh and how well those consultants made out!
@NRA treasurer Woody Phillips entered into an independent consulting agreement to continue to be paid by the NRA following his retirement.
NRA paid Phillips $30,000 per month for 5 years for consulting services
23/ Spoiler: Phillips provided no actual consulting services to the NRA under this agreement.
The lawsuit concludes, Payments made to Phillips under this agreement are ex gratia payments and a waste of charitable assets.
24/ Josh Powell, @NRAs former Chief of Staff and the Executive Vice President of Operations, convinced an @NRA contractor to hire his wife...and then passed through her entire monthly fee of $30,000 -- yes, per month -- to @NRA!
25/ You wont be surprised to learn that Powell not only disregarded his disclosure obligations under @NRAs conflict-of interest policy, but took affirmative steps to hide the conflict from the NRA officer he was supposed to disclose it to.
26/ In 2017, Powell asked another @NRA vendor to add his father, a photographer, to its photographer rotation for NRA events.
The vendor complied with Powells request and proceeded to pass through at least $93,000 in expenses for his fathers services to the NRA.
27/ Powell is a piece of work. In 2018, @NRA settled a sexual discrimination claim made against Powells for $89K
A couple months later, Powell was accused of sexual harassment
LaPierre didnt launch an investigation or take any disciplinary action regarding Powells behavior.
28/ LaPierres Senior Assistant joined @NRA with a criminal record of embezzling from a non-profit where she had worked in the 1980s.
29/ At some point in the 2000s, LaPierre's assistant was accused of diverting money from @NRA to use for personal expenses.
Her corporate card was taken away, BUT she continued to have access to and use of other NRA employees corporate credit cards!
(What could go wrong?)
30/ In 2012, LaPierres Senior Assistant had @NRA pay for $18,000 in expenses incurred in connection with her sons wedding in Minnesota.
These wedding expenses never were reimbursed by LaPierres Senior Assistant to @NRA...
31/ LaPierres Senior Assistant also loves black cars.
On a single day, she incurred over $1,100 in black car bills for her husbands trips to and from airports.
On another occasion, she $1,300 in black car bills to transport him from New York to Washington D.C.
32/ @NRAs biggest vendor was Ackerman McQueen. NRA reported paying Ackerman $20,324,364, in 2017, and $31,994,168, in 2018 for public relations and advertising services.
Over this period, Ackerman did not transmit receipts or other docs supporting its expenses
33/ @NRA agreed to an arrangement w/ Ackerman McQueen whereby it paid invoices with minimal detail and little supporting documentation
34/ Ackerman also paid for a variety of unrelated out of pocket expenses and passed those expenses through to @NRA.
The NRA used this arrangement to conceal expenditures by NRA executivesincluding LaPierre many of which were personal or lacked documentation required by IRS
35/ Ackerman billed @NRA for out of pocket expenses by submitting non particularized invoices that aggregated the expenses into a lump sum amount and provided no details on the nature or purpose of the expenses
36/ The effect of the pass-through expense arrangement with Ackerman McQueen was that these expenses would be paid for by @NRA without written approvals, receipts, or supporting business purpose documentation
37/ With respect to LaPierre, the false reporting exposed @NRA to tax and penalty liability and permitted him to file false personal tax returns with the IRS.
38/ Some examples of these pass-throughs:
- Pay for meals for NRA executives at an upscale Italian restaurant
- @NRA directed Ackerman to purchase memberships to a members-only cigar bar
- Ackerman paid, and @NRA reimbursed, more than $250,000 to LaPierres Travel Consultant
39/ At @NRA conventions, Ackerman paid for LaPierres family to stay at a luxury private hotel, apart from the host hotel at which NRA employees & board members were staying.
These costs were billed to the NRA as pass-through expenses
40/ LaPierre directed Ackerman McQueen to pay for expenses related to NASCAR events, country music events, and even medical visits, and bill those through to @NRA.
41/ The Executive Director of Advancement also took part in the corruption, frequently staying at luxury hotels like the Four Seasons, the St. Regis, the Ritz Carlton, and the Beverly Hills Hotel.
He routinely stayed in suites costing over $1,500 a night.
42/ LaPierres wife would incur thousands of dollars of expenses for hair & makeup, which were billed through Ackerman McQueen as out of pocket expenses.
May 2016 and May 2017: @NRA paid one artist $16,359 for 3 events for LaPierres wife.
43/ LaPierre regularly directed @NRA to pay officers, directors, and former employees millions of dollars in consulting agreements without Board approval
44/ In late 2016, @NRAs then Executive Director of General Operations was terminated
NRA security escorted him out
After, LaPierre directed @NRA to enter into an agreement under which the NRA agreed to pay the former Executive Director $60,000 a month over a 2-year period
45/ LaPierre testified that he was under the impression that it was a severance agreement, and that he authorized it out of concern that the former Executive Director might disparage the @NRA.
46/ @NRA paid a former NRA employee $30,000 a month as a fundraising consultant.
The former employee admitted that he did not keep accurate records of fundraising he conducted. He agreed that his position was not subject to outcomes or any form of metrics
47/ @NRA entered into a post-employment agreement with its Managing Director of Affinity and Licensing
The individual retired from @NRA in January 2016 but was still paid a full years salary, $630,000, AND paid by @NRA after his retirement:
$713,000 in 2017
$535,000 in 2018
48/ LaPierre also has his own post-retirement contract.
It provides for payments in excess of $1 million per year after LaPierres tenure as EVP ends due to retirement or losing a re-election bid.
49/ LaPierre testified that he did not know whether his post-employment contract was disclosed to @NRA the NRA Board
50/ @NRA was obligated to continue to pay LaPierre for years after he lost reelection or retired and *at a higher rate than his compensation as Executive Vice President*
51/ LaPierre effectively dominates and controls @NRA Board as a whole through his control of business, patronage and special payment opportunities for board members.
He paid at least 5 board members for services that were (likely) never rendered
52/ LaPierre effectively ousted former @NRA President Oliver North after he began to review @NRAs expenses and business operations.
Board members who publicly expressed concern about @NRAs actions were denied the committee assignments they requested and some resigned
secondwind
(16,903 posts)Chainfire
(17,305 posts)now we know why.
CurtEastPoint
(18,549 posts)Girard442
(6,059 posts)...would turn out to be dirtbags in lotsa other ways?
hunter
(38,264 posts).
C_U_L8R
(44,891 posts)Just like Trump does with his shell companies. They figure auditors lose track and give up after a few layers. It's been their money laundering scheme for ages, but it seems prosecutors are onto these cute tricks. It all foreshadows Trump's inevitable day with justice.
melm00se
(4,973 posts)bear in mind that, at this time, these are only accusations and the defendants has not raised a defense.
It will be interesting to see the NRA's response to these assertions.
kcr
(15,300 posts)Bear that in mind.
melm00se
(4,973 posts)here long enough to see DU's end zone celebration turn to abject despair when the desired outcome is not what really happens.
malaise
(267,799 posts)endorsed by the King Con of grifters
magicarpet
(13,935 posts)Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Damn, the amount of money that was just given away to former employees is staggering. How many former employees had 30-60k/month agreements?
Where did all that high life money come from?
Good grief, the corruption...
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Aristus
(66,077 posts)The NRA annual dues couldn't produce that ocean of cash.
Hell, the NRA only charged dues to its membership so they would feel like they were getting something of value.
ProfessorGAC
(64,413 posts)There are special life time memberships that cost >$1 million.
But they have over 5 million members, so even if all were at the bottom tier, it's $225 million per year.
I know there's a lot of theft going on in the OP, but we have to remember they're broke.
I think that $225 million a year covers this, since the thing goes back 15-20 years.
Might not leave much left, but that causes going broke!
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Link to tweet
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Sandi Bachom
@sandibachom
I was at the presser it was pretty bad. When Reporter asked Tish James why she had to dissolve the organization what about the members and she said all of the assets have been drained theres no money left
Tish James said all of the assets have been drained theres no money left
UpInArms
(51,252 posts)A top NRA executive, then-Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Wilson H. Phillips Jr., signed a document in May 2018 promising the gun lobby would contribute $6.5 million for 99% ownership of a company formed to buy a Dallas mansion for LaPierre, according to a copy of the document reviewed by the Journal. The NRA and its then-outside advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, told the Journal that the planning to buy the home started in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting, when LaPierre had concerns about his safety. The deal ultimately fell through.
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/nra-agreed-to-buy-6-5m-dallas-mansion-for-ceo-wayne-lapierre-in-wake-of-parkland-mass-shooting-wsj/
louis-t
(23,199 posts)for the investigation. The optics were horrible. I cannot believe this was allowed to go on for so many years.
Alliepoo
(2,195 posts)Thats a big bunch of million and millions and millions of dollars being paid to shady people by shady people in a shady organization. Mind boggling.
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)I'll bet Barr would love to give them all big gold stars for grifting! 🤬
Just like trumputin.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)louis-t
(23,199 posts)drive Wayne (in a black car, of course) to where the members are gathered and drop him off. He would have some 'splainin' to do.
RainCaster
(10,676 posts)Damn, these guys are as corrupt as DFT.
No wonder the NY DA is taking them to task.
Cognitive_Resonance
(1,546 posts)good times machine fueled. All they had to do was keep the rubes in a constant lather with a steady diet of fear.
solara
(3,832 posts)What do the Members of NRA get for all their dues?
Do they actually need the NRA in order to purchase weapons? It is clearly looking like the NRA is as big a hoax as #TraitorTrump himself.
The NRA received millions and millions of dollars from their members over many years.. that's A LOT of dues. One wonders if the "members' even know what the return was supposed to be.
Interesting that there is nothing in that file that mentions any of the corrupt NRA 'officials' staying at TrumpProperties
IronLionZion
(45,256 posts)solara
(3,832 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,413 posts)Then I saw your post!
And, just wait; the "Biden's gonna take your guns" is starting in 15 minutes!
IronLionZion
(45,256 posts)When Biden was campaigning in person at factories there would be RW trolls getting in his face about taking their guns away.
ProfessorGAC
(64,413 posts)It was only 3.5 years ago, that there was proof (their own guns) that Obama didn't even try to take them away!
In 3.5 years, they have gone completely blank on the fact that they still have their guns.
Really, they only have 3 tricks: racism, guns, dead non-babies.
Traildogbob
(8,567 posts)Trump is a thousand percent for Wayne and the NRA. Sure, move to Texas to avoid prosecution, like Donny fled New York to head to another criminal haven like Texas, Florida. Like if you rape children in Colorado, move to Mar-a-Logo, sanctuary cities.
Bondor
(63 posts)How about that Russian money funneled through NRA for Repug coffers? will that be brought up?
poli-junkie
(991 posts)It would be interesting to see any suspicious money transfers from those sketchy banks like The Bank of Cyprus or Deutsche Bank or Alpa Bank into NRAs coffers in early 2016.
KG
(28,749 posts)IronLionZion
(45,256 posts)NCjack
(10,279 posts)message makes him entitled to a great compensation package. Pleasures have to be sufficient to dull the mind.
billh58
(6,635 posts)folks -- it's just Republicans being themselves.
Sneederbunk
(14,207 posts)iluvtennis
(19,756 posts)we have this lawsuit. NRA is going down in New York and won't be operating there any longer. Maybe they'll reinvent themsleves and go to Texas as the illegal occupant opined on Thursday.
Bravo AG Leticia James!
keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)The NRA used to be for sportsmen, hunters and gun safety.
Now it has become an industry owned shill for the sale of more guns and the enrichment of its leaders.
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)crickets
(25,896 posts)Blue Owl
(49,906 posts)n/t
Xolodno
(6,330 posts)In all of that, I was wondering how do these guys provide any services for their members. Then it occurred to me, they have some schmuck sending a pdf newsletter via mass email blast. The advertisements probably pay that cost and then some. They may even have articles sent to them for free from their membership.
Then I thought about lobbying. And then I realized, they get free media attention for every mass shooting or "D" President. And no Repub would dare go against the NRA...so they just need a shill in a suit.
Add in a conservative leaning Supreme Court...even the need for lawyers is low.
I wonder how much money Wayne has stashed away in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Malta, Somoa, etc.
Chrisdutch
(70 posts)I think if this was written in Russian and sent to Putin he could straighten everything out.
Mersky
(4,969 posts)Last edited Mon Aug 10, 2020, 01:52 AM - Edit history (1)
From one client over six years? 🥜