NEW YORK (AP) — A state’s lawyer said in closing arguments Thursday at a civil trial claiming former National Rifle Association executives wildly misspent millions of dollars on private flights, vacations and other lavish perks that the gun rights group and its ex-CEO were caught “with their hands in the cookie jar.”
But a lawyer for former NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre dismissed the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James as a political witch hunt, saying James was intent on destroying the powerful nonprofit advocacy group.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the NRA said it could not be held accountable for the actions of its long-serving leader, LaPierre, who announced his resignation just days before the trial opened in early January.
“If this was a case about corruption,” said Sarah Rogers, “it wasn’t by the NRA.”
Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell countered that the NRA and its executives were doing everything they could to deny, deflect and soften the blow of the accusations.
“They’re going to try to get you to think about anything except what happened to those cookies,” she said. “They’re going to blame anyone else but themselves.”
The case, which unfolded over a six-week trial in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, now heads to the jury, which is expected to begin deliberations Friday after receiving verdict instructions from the judge.
State lawyers said at trial that LaPierre billed the NRA more than $11 million for private jet flights and spent more than $500,000 on eight trips to the Bahamas over a three-year span. They also say he authorized $135 million in NRA contracts for a vendor whose owners showered him with free trips.