Leaked Financial Docs Reveal Deepening NRA Woes

The Week reports:

The rift between the National Rifle Association’s Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre and the organization’s ex-board president Oliver North is continuing to grow. Anonymous documents posted online show that the NRA has accrued massive legal bills over the past year, while the organization’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, spent lavishly on clothing and travel, billing the organization’s ad agency for his expenses. NRA officials disputed the documents’ claims, but their authenticity was confirmed.

The Daily Beast reports:

In the memo, North claimed to be “deeply concerned about the extraordinary legal fees the NRA has incurred” from outside attorney Bill Brewer. North and NRA official Richard Childress then called for an independent review of Brewer’s invoices, but said the NRA’s senior leadership—including CEO Wayne LaPierre—refused to allow one, and that Brewer himself also strongly resisted any review of the eye-popping bills.

The memo says Brewer charged the NRA $24,324,290 since they engaged him last year, and that some of that had been reimbursed as part of a settlement of litigation against an insurance company—leaving the NRA to pay $18.5 million. North and Childress estimated that at the current rate, the NRA is racking up nearly $100,000 in legal bills every day—an eye-popping number.

Raw Story reports:



Turmoil continues at the National Rifle Association (NRA) after the far-right political organization was caught spending $274,695.03 at a high-end fashion boutique on clothing for CEO Wayne LaPierre. A leaked memo from the NRA’s chief financial officer, William Winkler, asks LaPierre for “immediate attention.” Ermenegildo Zegna, the luxury Italian clothing boutique, is located on Rodeo Drive.