The National Rifle Association is suing the NRA Foundation
The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit Monday against its charitable arm, the NRA Foundation, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition.
The NRA alleged that approximately $160 million raised by the foundation alongside the NRA was misused in violation of “charitable trust law.”
In the federal court filing, the NRA says it filed the lawsuit in an effort to stop the foundation from “impersonating the NRA or an authorized NRA affiliate to donors and the public and misappropriating millions of dollars that NRA supporters have contributed.”
“The Foundation was seized by a disgruntled faction of former NRA directors who lost control of the NRA Board of Directors following revelations of financial improprieties, mismanagement, and violations of fiduciary duties and member trust,” NRA attorneys wrote, adding that the faction is seeking to regain power through the foundation after being “driven from power by NRA members.”
The lawsuit delves into the association’s internal turmoil, claiming the foundation has personal “conflicts” with the NRA and is run by a “clique of former NRA executives who are bitter” about losing control following “a series of scandals.”
A jury in a civil corruption trial concluded in February 2024 that former NRA leader Wayne LaPierre embezzled millions of dollars from the association to live luxuriously while the NRA failed to manage its finances. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed this complaint in 2020. LaPierre resigned as head of the NRA in January 2024, days before the civil trial was set to begin.
A judge later issued a 10-year ban on LaPierre’s membership in the NRA but refused to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the group, one of the remedies James sought after the association was found liable.
In Monday’s lawsuit, the NRA alleges that “the current legal dispute was sparked by the current Foundation leadership’s illegal attempt to undermine the NRA and establish the Foundation as a competitor to the NRA by using funds that the NRA raised and contributed donors to support the NRA’s charitable activities.” »
The lawsuit goes on to claim that the foundation’s executive director “stated that the Foundation intended to cut off or significantly reduce its financial support for the NRA, sue the NRA, take control of certain NRA programs, and undermine the finances and financial stability of the NRA.”
“Based on information and belief, Foundation officers intend to withdraw grants and other funding from the NRA, except for grants required by the terms of express restrictions, to engage in fundraising activities in competition with the NRA, and to conduct its own programmatic activities in competition with those of the NRA,” the attorneys wrote.
The suit asks that a federal judge in Washington, D.C., block the foundation from engaging in what it calls unfair competition with the NRA, including by promoting or advertising the foundation’s association with the NRA or under the NRA logo. The lawsuit also wants the judge to prevent the foundation from engaging in conduct that would suggest its activities are “sponsored, endorsed or authorized by, or associated or connected with” the NRA.
The NRA Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
