Ex-NRA chief Wayne LaPierre files appeal notice challenging $4 million judgment in New York corruption case

MANHATTAN (CN) — Former National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre will try to appeal his way out of paying a more than $4 million civil judgment to the gun rights group, according to court papers filed late Friday night.

In a 35-page notice of appeal, LaPierre claims that he should be off the hook for the roughly $4.3 million penalty because the New York judgment was “unconstitutional, unauthorized, unwarranted and unjust.”

Sources familiar with the matter told Courthouse News that LaPierre had already paid the judgment in full. Now, LaPierre will push for restitution for “any sum of money paid by him to the NRA under the final judgment, with interest.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the civil case in 2020 against LaPierre for self-dealing, but also against the NRA for failing to stop LaPierre’s misuse of donor funds.

Last year, a Manhattan jury found that LaPierre misappropriated millions of dollars in NRA donor funds to finance first-class travel, Italian suits, insider contracts and other self-serving perks. A December judgment from a New York judge cemented the jury’s verdict, and also slapped LaPierre with a 10-year-ban on rejoining NRA leadership — which LaPierre indicated he will also appeal alongside the monetary penalty.

James, LaPierre claims, lacks the authority and standing to sue the officer of a nonprofit and brought the case for political reasons with the purpose of “chilling free speech and punishing and silencing” LaPierre.

The notice of appeal by itself is not an appeal; LaPierre filed it on the last day of a 30-day deadline to appeal civil judgments, giving him more time to craft a formal appeal of the judge’s order. The NRA, too, filed a notice of appeal on the same day: It intends to fight the judgement’s denial of counterclaims for money damages against James.

The attorney general’s office confirmed Monday that it had received both notices of appeal. LaPierre said the following in a statement to Courthouse News:

“I intend to seek reversal of the unconstitutional first amendment restrictions unfairly placed on me by a hostile attorney general who actually promised voters she’d destroy me and the NRA. She targeted us to keep us out of the 2020 election and all future elections. And to keep me out of politics forever. It’s a gross weaponization of government power that ought to scare every American. But the Supreme Court ruled in 1958 that states can’t use their power to muzzle speech they don’t like. So I expect full vindication on appeal.”

As it stands, the NRA will be unable to spend the more than $4 million that LaPierre paid until the appeal process has wrapped up. The precise timetable remains unclear, but LaPierre’s attorney Kent Correll said they’ll now have a few months to file a formal appeal to New York’s Appellate Division, First Department.

LaPierre’s spending had raised eyebrows of NRA insiders for years before the 2024 trial. Few have been more vocal about the issue than NRA board member Jeff Knox, who told Courthouse News on Monday that he was “not surprised at all” to see LaPierre looking for a way out.

“I think that Wayne sent the check to stop any additional interest from accruing,” Knox said. “It’s how the legal process works. If I had $4 million and somebody wanted it, I would probably be more than willing to spend a few bucks to try and hold on to it.”

Knox is skeptical that LaPierre’s appeal will get very far, and added that he’s pushing for the NRA to pursue a clawback of any funds that LaPierre used for legal or travel expenses in this case.

Fellow NRA board member Willes Lee told Courthouse News that he was “dismayed” at LaPierre’s dragging out of the already more than four-year-old case.

“The jury and the judge were very fair in this case,” Lee said.

LaPierre served as the CEO and executive vice president of the NRA from 1991 to 2024, when he resigned on the eve of this case’s trial for health issues attributed to his chronic Lyme disease. He was perhaps the most polarizing figure on either side of the national Second Amendment debate, and the movement of the NRA to the political right has been largely attributed to his leadership.

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