The NRA illegally laundered millions in tax-exempt donations from members to fund private jets and yachts, luxury apartments, and lavish vacations, complaint alleges.
NASHVILLE – Ruling that the plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged claims of fraud, breach of contract, and racketeering, a U.S. District Court Judge has given new life to a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (NRA) that once faced dismissal. The lawsuit was brought by card-carrying members of the NRA itself, who contend that their donations were misused. Yesterday, Judge William L. Campbell, Jr., Chief U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee’s Nashville Division, found for the plaintiffs and denied the NRA’s motion to dismiss the case.
The class-action lawsuit, originally filed in 2019 by four NRA members, alleges that millions of dollars in charitable donations solicited by the NRA Foundation—the organization’s tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit—were actually used for purposes unrelated to the nonprofit’s stated gun-rights mission, including lavish personal perks for former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and his family members. The complaint alleges that the NRA “employed a series of schemes to launder the proceeds of these fraudulent solicitations,” in conspiracy with LaPierre and the NRA’s long-time advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen.
The NRA has faced many lawsuits, but the plaintiffs in this case are not the usual anti-gun activists or state prosecutors the NRA is accustomed to demonizing and fending off. Rather, this suit is being brought by fierce proponents of the Second Amendment who feel betrayed by the corruption and greed of NRA leadership. Plaintiff David Dell’Aquila, a retired tech company millionaire now in his 60s, is a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights and a lifetime member of the NRA, having given more than $100,000 to forward its mission. Now, however, he regrets his previous financial support of the organization.
“They got polluted,” Mr. Dell’Aquila told the Christian Science Monitor, in 2019. “They’re enriching themselves.”
That enrichment includes financial improprieties uncovered in 2018 by then NRA president Oliver North, of Iran-Contra fame, who was forced out shortly after launching his internal investigation. The lawsuit references millions secretly spent on private jet travel for LaPierre and his family, extravagant yachting trips in the Bahamas, luxury apartments, Beverly Hills shopping sprees, and tens of thousands of dollars on hair and make-up expenses for Wayne LaPierre’s wife, Susan. The complaint contends these misappropriations of funds had nothing to do with the organization’s stated mission, and were hidden from donors, NRA board members, and the public. This scheme constituted a breach of contract with NRA donors, mail fraud, and an illegal money laundering conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Among the arguments the NRA used in attempting to dismiss the lawsuit was the claim that there was no breach of contract, because the organization had not made “any specific promises” to donors, and “does not make any representation as to what constitutes the ‘mission’ of the NRA.” The court roundly rejected these arguments as “disingenuous.”
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2019 by different counsel, but the plaintiffs are now represented by Michael Kanovitz, Julia Rickert, Tom Hanson, and Jordan Poole of the Chicago-based civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy.
“Loevy + Loevy is committed to seeking justice for all victims of corruption and fraud who have been preyed on by powerful entities, which is exactly what happened here,” Loevy + Loevy partner Julia Rickert explains. “The leaders of the NRA—the most powerful gun lobby in the world—defrauded the organization’s own supporters to line their pockets, in violation of several laws designed to protect the American people from such corruption.”
“Our clients look forward to uncovering the full extent of the NRA’s corruption, and obtaining justice for the tens of millions of Americans harmed by the organization’s misconduct,” Rickert adds.
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Correction: An earlier version of this press release said Mr. Dell’Aquila was in his ’70s: he is actually 63. We regret the error.
A copy of the complaint in this lawsuit can be found here.
A copy of the judge’s ruling can be found here.
