Open in full screen mode Wayne LaPierre announced his resignation as director of the NRA three days before his trial in early January. (Archive photo) Agence France-Presse The former head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) Wayne LaPierre, who resigned in January from this very influential arms lobby on the American political system, was judged Friday by New York civil justice guilty of improper management and corruption. This verdict of a jury of a civil court new -yorkais, revealed by the American judicial press and then confirmed by the Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James, comes with additional financial compensation for Mr. LaPierre of 4.3 million US dollars. In total, Wayne LaPierre and a senior NRA executive must pay $6.35 million for abusing the system and violating our laws, New York State's top judge said on X and also sort of local Minister of Justice. This is a major victory, s&# x27;is congratulated the prosecutor who has just sentenced former President Donald Trump on February 16, by a civil court in New York, to a fine of at least 355 million US dollars before interest for financial fraud within his Trump Organization real estate empire. According to the ABC television channel, the jury in the NRA trial determined that Mr. LaPierre, its former historic leader, had cost his organization some US$5.4 million through mismanagement. Loading ELSE ON INFO: Emergency Measures Act: Ottawa will appeal the Federal Court's decision But he has already repaid a million. In New York, you can't get away with corruption and greed, even if you think you feel powerful and influential. Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules, insisted Ms. James, an elected African-American magistrate from the Democratic Party who tracks corruption among elected officials and businesses in her State of 20 million inhabitants, including nearly nine million in the megacity of New York. She launched civil action in August 2020 and investigated for nearly a year and a half.
Emergency Measures Act: Ottawa will appeal the Court's decision federal government
Prosecutor Letitia James convicted Donald Trump and Wayne LaPierre in turn for fraud and corruption. (Archive photo)
Mr. LaPierre was being prosecuted for lavish personal expenses paid by the NRA and other misuses of corporate assets, including air travel and stays on yachts.
M. LaPierre and the NRA have denied all accusations.
Three days before his trial in early January, this 74-year-old leader announced his resignation as head of the NRA on January 31, after three decades as head of an organization of five million members, with very strong influence. on elected representatives of Congress and on American politics.
The 150-year-old association, supposedly being non-profit, is registered in New York and declared bankruptcy in 2021. But this procedure failed.
It is under the leadership of Mr. LaPierre that the lobby has become extremely active with political leaders whom it finances or rates unfavorably, managing to block proposed laws in Congress considered to limit the constitutional right to possess and carry a firearm.
For example, the NRA paid tens of millions of dollars to Donald Trump's victorious campaign in 2016.
Former President Donald Trump actively supports the NRA, and considers that the carrying of firearms must be authorized to “fight against evil”. (File photo)
The United States has more individual weapons than x27;residents: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and nearly one in two adults lives in a household with a weapon.
The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of firearm deaths in the United States, incomparable to that of other developed countries.
About 49,000 people died from gunshots in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year.
That's more than 130 deaths per day, more than half of which are suicides.