Judge Temporarily Bans Wayne LaPierre from Leading NRA Again, Declines to Appoint Monitor for Group

A New York judge has banned former National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre from leading the gun-rights group again for the next ten years but declined to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the organization following its civil-corruption trial.

State supreme court judge Joel Cohen issued the decision on Monday, denying two of the most significant remedies that New York attorney general Letitia James proposed after the NRA and its top executives were held liable for civil corruption. In February, a jury found that LaPierre diverted millions of dollars from the NRA to finance a lavish lifestyle while the NRA engaged in financial mismanagement.

James wanted the judge to permanently bar LaPierre from returning to lead the NRA or its affiliates and appoint a monitor who would oversee the NRA’s finances and report the findings to the court for three years.

Instead of a permanent ban, Cohen ordered a temporary one. Regarding the latter remedy, he said an independent monitor would be “time-consuming, disruptive and will impose significant costs on the NRA without corresponding benefits” and therefore found no use for one.

The NRA opposed the monitor because the attorney general had not shown that the gun-rights organization continued violating any laws.

Earlier Monday, LaPierre told the court that appointing an independent monitor to oversee the NRA would be “equivalent to putting a knife straight through the heart of the organization and twisting it.” The decision would be an existential threat to the group, he said, as its members and donors would be constantly surveilled.

“James will have achieved her objective to fulfill that campaign promise of, in effect, dissolving the NRA for a lack of money and a lack of members,” he added in arguing against establishing a monitor.

Jurors ruled that LaPierre cost his company $5.4 million, accounting for the $1 million he had already repaid. Wilson “Woody” Phillips, the NRA’s retired treasurer and chief financial officer, was also found to have cost $2 million in financial damages, but a third executive named John Frazer did not cause any monetary harm to the group. The judge declined to impose penalties on Frazer on Monday.

Serving as the NRA’s CEO and executive vice president for more than 30 years, LaPierre, 74, resigned in January days before the corruption trial started. He cited health concerns as the reason for his abrupt departure.

James brought a lawsuit against the NRA in 2020, accusing its leaders of violating state and federal laws by siphoning millions of dollars into their own pockets. The Democratic attorney general vowed to go after the NRA, which she labeled a “terrorist organization,” before her 2018 election victory.