The National Rifle Association (NRA), America's most prominent gun rights organisation, has launched a remarkable legal attack against its own charitable foundation. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington DC, accuses leaders of the NRA Foundation of attempting a hostile takeover and illegally diverting a staggering $160 million in donor funds.
A Factional 'Beef' Spills Into Court
The legal action, submitted on Monday, lays bare the intense internal turmoil that has gripped the NRA since the ousting of its long-time chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, in 2024. LaPierre and other senior figures were forced out following a major financial corruption scandal. A New York state jury found NRA executives liable in February 2024 for misspending millions, with LaPierre himself accused of using the group's treasury as a "personal piggy bank" for luxuries including private flights and designer clothes.
The 36-page lawsuit claims the NRA Foundation has been "seized by a disgruntled faction of former NRA directors" who lost their board positions after these revelations of financial mismanagement. "Booted out of power by the NRA’s members, they now seek to reclaim it through the Foundation," the filing states. It describes the dispute as a personal "beef" driven by former allies of LaPierre who are bitter about their loss of control.
Allegations of Hijacked Funds and Trademarks
The new NRA leadership, led by CEO Doug Hamlin who succeeded LaPierre, levels serious accusations against the foundation. Key claims include that the faction sought to remove the NRA's right to appoint foundation directors and is "hijacking the NRA’s trademarks, including the NRA name". Most significantly, the suit alleges a move to divert $160 million away from the NRA's core charitable programmes.
"Donor intent matters," the lawsuit argues. It contends that supporters who gave money at NRA fundraising events intended to back the association's public-interest work—such as firearm safety education and hunting programmes—not "the vendettas and thirst for power of those who failed the NRA." The filing insists the foundation's leaders have "no right to mislead donors" into supporting an organisation that has now turned against the NRA.
The Long Shadow of Scandal and Bankruptcy
This latest lawsuit is another chapter in the NRA's protracted period of crisis. The group's financial scandals first surfaced in 2018 when it reported a $36 million deficit. The situation escalated with the resignation of then-president Oliver North in 2019, who said he was pushed out for highlighting financial irregularities. In a drastic move, the NRA declared bankruptcy in 2021, a strategy a federal judge later rejected, viewing it as an attempt to evade a lawsuit from New York's attorney general, Letitia James.
The NRA Foundation, established in 1990 to raise tax-deductible contributions for the NRA's activities, has not publicly commented on the new lawsuit. The NRA is demanding a jury trial and an order to block the foundation from using the NRA name and logo. Doug Hamlin called the legal action "a last resort," stating he was "deeply disappointed" that the foundation had become adversarial while the NRA attempts to rebuild.
No court date has been set to hear the case, which names the foundation itself as the defendant.
