Merged NY Attorney General sues to dissolve NRA / Major National Announcement

Meadmaker

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Meadmaker
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Apr 27, 2004
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Here's the story:

https://www.syracuse.com/state/2020...-deutsche-bank-turns-over-trump-finances.html

About 20 minutes from the time I am writing this, the NY Attorney General is set to make a "major national announcement". Charges against Trump? Investigation into charges?

Please, please, please...

Or....a nothingburger?


In case it turns out to be good, here's a thread for it. Or will it just sink to the bottom of the pile?


(I saw the headline on Drudge Report. They have a pretty strong tendency toward sensationalism. Probably just a nothingburger....but we can dream, eh?)

ETA: Note to mods. I chose "current events" because it it is more than a nothingburger, it will be current events. if it's not something significant, it will be just USA politics. I won't be offended if the thread gets moved to USA politics.

ETA2: For those confused by the thread title versus the contents of the OP, I edited the thread title after finding out that it wasn't Trump related.
 
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Dream what? I would imagine the best outcome for you would be if the attorney exonerated trump?
 
BobTheCoward said:
Dream what? I would imagine the best outcome for you would be if the attorney exonerated trump?
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I always wonder exactly how your mind reaches the conclusions that it does.


I honestly don't know what the "best" outcome would be for me. However, I know the announcement I am hoping for is, "We have found clear evidence of meaningful criminal activity by Donald J. Trump, and we're gonna do everything we can to throw his ass in jail."

However, I recognize that expecting such an announcement has an element of wishful thinking involved. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. If she hadn't said "national" announcement, I wouldn't think it would be anything significant.

The worst possible outcome, I suppose, would be an announcement like the one I described, followed by "evidence" that doesn't match the claims.

But if you want to watch it live:

https://ag.ny.gov/livestream

As I write this, it's twelve minutes overdue and hasn't started yet.

This could be the biggest letdown since I listened live to Geraldo Riviera opening up Al Capone's vault.
 
NY AG going after the NRA for fraud and abusing nonprofit status.

Name dropping Wayne LaPierre. Even among the gun community, Wayne's running of the NRA has been heavily criticized, especially for his apparent self-dealing.

I think this has legs. Once discovery starts they're going to find all kinds of shady deals and executives enriching themselves.
 
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SuburbanTurkey said:
NY AG going after the NRA for fraud and abusing nonprofit status.
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Some details:


New York AG seeks to dissolve NRA in lawsuit accusing leaders of self-dealing, causing $64 million in losses

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced that the state is seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit that accuses the leadership of the flagging nonprofit of diverting millions of dollars for their own personal use.

According to the lawsuit, the senior leadership of the NRA squandered millions in donations on personal trips, private jets and expensive meals. The failure to lawfully manage the organization’s funds contributed to losses of $64 million over three years, the suit says.

James is asking the court to dissolve the NRA and require each of the current and former executives named in the suit to pay full restitution. The suit argues that the four executives, including CEO Wayne LaPierre, shouldn’t be permitted to ever again serve on the board of a New York charity.
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I guess that's the major announcement? Major all right, but probably not what people seemed to be expecting.


(ETA: thread title is a bit nebulous, now that there are details. Should we start a new thread?)
 
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NY AG gonna make Gun Owners of America the new name in 2A advocacy. It would be an improvement, they aren't nearly as corrupt as Wayne's NRA.
 
crescent said:
Some details:


New York AG seeks to dissolve NRA in lawsuit accusing leaders of self-dealing, causing $64 million in losses



I guess that's the major announcement? Major all right, but probably not what people seemed to be expecting.


(ETA: thread title is a bit nebulous, now that there are details. Should we start a new thread?)
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I have edited the thread title. I wouldn't object if someone wanted to start a new thread specific to the lawsuit, without the anti-Trump optimism.

ETA: Apparently, I didn't edit the thread title. Just the title of the first post in the thread. Ok. I give up. Mods - do whatever makes sense.
 
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The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty.

NY AG has jurisdiction over NRA because it is registered in New York.

James’ complaint names the NRA as a whole, but also names four current and former NRA execs: EVP Wayne LaPierre, general counsel John Frazer, former CFO Woody Phillips, and former chief of staff Joshua Powell.
 
Meadmaker said:
I always wonder exactly how your mind reaches the conclusions that it does.


I honestly don't know what the "best" outcome would be for me. However, I know the announcement I am hoping for is, "We have found clear evidence of meaningful criminal activity by Donald J. Trump, and we're gonna do everything we can to throw his ass in jail.".
Click to expand...

I don't understand how your mind works. It seems that something clearly better to hope for would be clear evidence that there was no criminal activity.

The scenarios seem pretty clear
1) clear evidence for a crime you believe was committed
2) finding out you were mistaken and that no crime was committed

It seems clearly preferable that no wrongdoing was committed rather than committed and perpetrators punished.
 
LaPierre allegations:
a $17 mil post employment contract not approved by NRA board.
$1.2mil expense reimbursements
$500K trips to Bahamas w/family
$3.6mil on travel consultants and black car services

CFO Woody Phillips allegations:
$1.8mil package of 'consulting' for the new treasurer. New treasurer unaware
Directed more than $1 mil deal to his girlfriend
Former Chief of Staff Joshua Powell allegations:
Salary jumped from $250K to $800K in ~2 years
NRA hired $5mil consulting firm, which hired his wife and passed $30K monthly fee on
Pressed NRA vendor to hire his father as a photog --$90K

General Counsel John Frazer allegations:
Failed to comply with board governance procedures, failed to ensure the NRA was in compliance with whistleblower laws and repeatedly certified false or misleading annual statements by the NRA.
 
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In a SEPARATE action, the DC attorney general is announcing that it is suing the NRA's foundation today

AG Karl A. Racine
We are suing the NRA Foundation for misusing charitable funds.
Donors gave money to fund firearms safety, firearms education and marksmanship training. Instead, that money was diverted to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives

We allege that the NRA Foundation broke DC law by:
Placing interests of NRA above its own
Paying millions in fees to the NRA without oversight
Issuing millions in risky loans to the NRA ($5mil that the NRA never repaid)
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Panic buying of guns and ammo gonna go into turbo drive. 5.56 already nearly 3x the normal price right now, we're about to discover new territory of CHUD induced shortages.
 
It's wrong to hope that LaPierre will attempt an armed standoff and have one of his mansions raided by SWAT teams and get shot directly in the butt and appear on live television being dragged out, weeping. Right?
 
TragicMonkey said:
It's wrong to hope that LaPierre will attempt an armed standoff and have one of his mansions raided by SWAT teams and get shot directly in the butt and appear on live television being dragged out, weeping. Right?
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Enh. It's pretty tame, as sado-sexual political revenge fantasies go. Just try not to indulge yourself too much.
 
theprestige said:
Enh. It's pretty tame, as sado-sexual political revenge fantasies go. Just try not to indulge yourself too much.
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It's not about that, I just love drama!

For the record I have no objection to the second amendment. It's corruption that irritates me.
 
TragicMonkey said:
It's wrong to hope that LaPierre will attempt an armed standoff and have one of his mansions raided by SWAT teams and get shot directly in the butt and appear on live television being dragged out, weeping. Right?
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Absolutely. In the perfect world, he shoots himself in the foot and the SWAT team has to rescue him before he bleeds out, all because the NRA run firearm safety training course he attended was underfunded.
 
NY Attorney General sues to dissolve the NRA

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/06/nra-new-york-attorney-general-lawsuit-wayne-lapierre

New York’s attorney general has sued to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA), alleging that senior leaders used the powerful gun lobby group as their “personal piggy bank” and illegally diverted millions of dollars from its charitable work.

Attorney general Letitia James alleged that NRA leaders diverted funds to pay for family trips to the Bahamas and private jets, which contributed to a $64m reduction in the balance sheet in three years, turning a surplus into a deficit. She called for the organization’s leader, Wayne LaPierre, to be removed from his post.

...
The NRA has been registered as a not-for-profit in New York since 1871. Under state law, charitable organizations are required to file financial reports to the state and to use their assets to serve the interests of their membership.

“As today’s complaint lays out, we’ve found the NRA instead fostered a culture of non-compliance and disregard for internal controls that led to the waste and lost of millions of assets and contributed to the NRA’s current deteriorated financial state,” James said.
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Seems absurd to sue "The NRA" when the problem is with the handful of managers. "The NRA" is the millions of members. In fact, The NRA should join the suit against those crooks.

A bunch of the management knew what was going on and wanted to change those upper people.

Really what will happen- Some kind of receivership/re-organization overseen by a court appointed atty. Because? 501(c-3 ) organizations are legally only stewards of their assets for "we the people". We the People/members ought to be enabled to carry on with the educational institution. Millions of us.
 
casebro said:
Seems absurd to sue "The NRA" when the problem is with the handful of managers. "The NRA" is the millions of members. In fact, The NRA should join the suit against those crooks.

A bunch of the management knew what was going on and wanted to change those upper people.

Really what will happen- Some kind of receivership/re-organization overseen by a court appointed atty. Because? 501(c-3 ) organizations are legally only stewards of their assets for "we the people". We the People/members ought to be enabled to carry on with the educational institution. Millions of us.
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The NRA should have cleaned house on their own. Reports about Wayne's extravagance go back years. Now the AG is involved and the org might not like the way she settles the matter, that's the cost of allowing a corrupt board to take over your nonprofit.
 
It's a civil lawsuit? Not criminal charges against the 4 leaders?
 
casebro said:
A bunch of the management knew what was going on and wanted to change those upper people.
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That's true. Olliver North was at the forefront of that effort.

So they fired him (forced him resign, really, Spring of 2019).

Oliver North, in court filing, says NRA is smearing him to avoid scrutiny

Oliver North, the retired Marine who was pushed out as president of the National Rifle Association in a dispute within the gun-rights group, said in court documents filed Thursday that he was thwarted when he tried to raise alarm bells about alleged misspending and denied that he tried to oust the organization’s longtime top executive.

The documents detail concerns North said he raised over several months and the efforts he said he took to try to have NRA spending audited and reviewed by an outside, independent entity. He said the red flags began to emerge this past spring when he heard that NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre had received tens of thousands of dollars in clothing, private jet travel and other perks from the group’s longtime marketing firm, Ackerman McQueen; he also has questioned money being paid to the law firm that has represented NRA in its fight against that firm.

North said in the filings that each time he raised concerns about potential financial misconduct, his efforts were “thwarted” by LaPierre and the NRA’s lead counsel, William A. Brewer III.
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So although insiders did try to fix the situation, they failed and have been sidelined for some time now. The NRA had plenty of time and internal warning to get their house in order, but didn't.

So this happens. Not very surprising if one has been following this issue for awhile.
 
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I hold no grudge against Oliver North, but I do appreciate the irony of his heel-face turn. "You either die a patsy, or live long enough to see yourself become the whistleblower."
 
He's already at it! (not going to post any more I will keep them in the trump thread)

Trump Retweeted
Liz Wheeler
@Liz_Wheeler
Imagine going after the NRA but refusing to touch the Clinton Foundation.
 
I'm plenty old enough to remember when the NRA was a sober, stodgy organization that promoted gun safety and tough laws on firearms ownership. Their magazine, American Rifleman, was handsome, glossy, and often useful, even to my gunsmithing, handloading family. We paid for a membership for many years when we couldn't afford much else.

The sleazy thing the NRA turned into has finally got what it had coming.
 
More here:
The New York attorney general, Letitia James, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, alleging that years of corruption and misspending had irreparably undermined its ability to operate as a nonprofit.

The lawsuit sets up a legal confrontation that could take years to play out and will leave the 148-year-old N.R.A. — long the nation’s most influential gun-rights lobby but recently hobbled by financial woes and infighting — fighting for its survival. The attorney general’s office previously presided over the dissolution of President Trump’s scandal-marred charitable foundation, but the N.R.A., with more than five million members, is a far larger organization that is expected to put up a more prolonged fight.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/us/new-york-attorney-general-sues-nra.html
 
I want to see the connections between Russian money finding its way into the campaigns of multiple GOP legislators.

Implications the Trump organization is involved will be very helpful in 3 months. Trump's taxes for the last 8 years is another promising outcome. Already mentioned, Trump's tax evasion. Cohen has a lot of dirt. Exaggerating assets to borrow money from Deutsche Bank is probably a good case for fraud.

And blocking the NRA from campaign donations comes at a good time. Maybe Trump will end up draining the swamp after all but not in the way he had in mind.
 
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So how will the average NRA members, often low-education, reflexive right-wingers who think everybody's trying to seize their guns, respond if the NRA is proven to be misusing their payments and donations? Will they believe it? Or will they think it's just part of "the conspiracy?"
 
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