01-16-2021, 09:40 AM
New York (CNN Business)The National Rifle Association of America, the nation's foremost gun lobby, has filed for bankruptcy, according court documents filed Friday in the Northern District of Texas.
The group said it plans to leave New York State, where it was founded in 1871, and reincorporate as a Texas nonprofit in a move it is calling "Project Freedom," according to a statement published Friday.
The Chapter 11 announcement follows leadership shakeups and allegations of financial mismanagement at the NRA in recent years.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit in August accusing the NRA's senior leadership of violating laws governing nonprofit groups and using millions of dollars from the organization's reserves for personal use and tax fraud.
James alleged that current and former NRA leadership "instituted a culture of self-dealing mismanagement" that benefitted themselves, family, friends and favored vendors, leading the organization to lose more than $63 million in three years.
In response, the NRA filed a countersuit alleging the attorney general was hampering the group's First Amendment rights.
James responded to the group's bankruptcy announcement Friday in a terse statement: "The NRA's claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt."
She added, "while we review this filing, we will not allow the NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office's oversight."
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The group said it plans to leave New York State, where it was founded in 1871, and reincorporate as a Texas nonprofit in a move it is calling "Project Freedom," according to a statement published Friday.
The Chapter 11 announcement follows leadership shakeups and allegations of financial mismanagement at the NRA in recent years.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit in August accusing the NRA's senior leadership of violating laws governing nonprofit groups and using millions of dollars from the organization's reserves for personal use and tax fraud.
James alleged that current and former NRA leadership "instituted a culture of self-dealing mismanagement" that benefitted themselves, family, friends and favored vendors, leading the organization to lose more than $63 million in three years.
In response, the NRA filed a countersuit alleging the attorney general was hampering the group's First Amendment rights.
James responded to the group's bankruptcy announcement Friday in a terse statement: "The NRA's claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt."
She added, "while we review this filing, we will not allow the NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office's oversight."
- More -