A judge on Wednesday blocked a bid by New York’s attorney general to dissolve the National Rifle Association but will allow her lawsuit to proceed, which alleges top executives illegally moved tens of millions of dollars from the gun advocacy group.
Manhattan Judge Joel Cohen said allegations of NRA officials misusing the organization’s funds for various questionable expenditures do not warrant the “corporate death penalty” Attorney General Letitia James had sought against the group, noting there could be other remedies such as fines and remuneration.
“Today, the court affirmed my office’s right to pursue its long-standing claims that fraud, abuse, and greed permeate through the NRA and its senior leadership,” James wrote in a statement seen by the Washington Examiner. “While we’re heartened that the judge rejected the NRA’s attempts to thwart most of the claims in our case against the NRA, we are disappointed that the judge ruled against the dissolution portion of the case.”
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL MOVES TO DISSOLVE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
In his 42-page decision, Cohen found that James’s August 2020 lawsuit describes a “pattern of exorbitant spending and expense reimbursement for the personal benefit of senior management, along with conflicts of interest, related party transactions, cover-ups, negligence, and retaliation,” but concluded her case does not show any alleged incident benefited the organization or harmed the public.
“Moreover, dissolving the NRA could impinge, at least indirectly, on the free speech and assembly rights of its millions of members,” Cohen added.
Despite its present headquarters in Virginia, the prominent Second Amendment advocacy nonprofit group was chartered in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state. James, who has regulatory power over nonprofit organizations in the state, said in her lawsuit that one way to remedy the NRA’s alleged misspending was to shut down the group.
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“We are considering our legal options with respect to this ruling,” James said. “We remain committed to enforcing New York law regardless of how powerful any individual or organization may be.”
Following James’s lawsuit against the NRA, the group filed a countersuit against the attorney general in February 2021 but later dropped the case in June. The organization also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February last year as part of a restructuring plan, but a judge blocked the move, saying the NRA’s bankruptcy was not filed in good faith.
