‘EXCESS BENEFITS’

NRA Tells IRS Execs Used Nonprofit’s Money for Personal Gain

The admission comes months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit to dissolve the organization.

The National Rifle Association has admitted in a new tax filing that some of its top executives—past and present—pocketed the nonprofit group’s money for personal gain, The Washington Post reports. The admission comes months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit to dissolve the organization, alleging impropriety from longtime CEO Wayne LaPierre. The new filing states that LaPierre and other officials got “excess benefits” due to a “significant diversion” of assets, but that LePierre repaid the money. Instead, the organization alleges in the filing that former executives such as former president Oliver North were behind the financial misuse. In 2019, North left the NRA, alleging that LaPierre had misused funds. Some former executives are cooperating with the New York investigation, according to the Post. “It’s a smart move by the NRA instead of digging in their heels, though who knows how they came up with the numbers,” New York lawyer Daniel Kurtz told the Post.