NRA’s Chief Financial Officer Owes the Group $2 Million

Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

The former chief financial officer (CFO) of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Wilson “Woody” Phillips, owes the group $2 million, according to a settlement made public on Tuesday. He, along with other top officials of the NRA, including retired CEO Wayne LaPierre, approved and covered up excessive expenditures for LaPierre. When whistleblowers sought to expose the machinations dating back more than a decade, those same officials sanctioned them to keep them quiet.

The Machinations

Wrote Ammoland’s Editor-in-Chief Fredy Riehl:

Without disclosing their relationship, Phillips admitted to awarding a $1.36 million contract to HomeTelos, a tech company run by his then-girlfriend Nancy Richards.

This was a blatant violation of NRA policies designed to prevent conflicts of interest. It took whistleblowers raising the alarm for Phillips to finally come clean about his actions long after the contract had ended.

Plus:

Phillips didn’t just stop at self-serving contracts. Among other things, Phillips was accused of approving invoices for LaPierre’s private jet flights to the Bahamas; facilitating payments to contractors owned by LaPierre’s friends; and allowing an arrangement through which the NRA paid back its longtime advertising agency, Ackerman McQueen, for travel, makeup, and other expenses it covered for LaPierre and his wife.

He was a key player in hiding Wayne LaPierre’s outrageous spending from the NRA’s internal controls. LaPierre, with Phillips’ assistance, misused millions of dollars on luxury travel, and even yacht trips.

This was money meant to protect our Second Amendment rights, not fund their extravagant lifestyles.

Letitia James’ Vendetta

Phillips’ settlement removes him from the second stage of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ vendetta against the pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment group. The anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment, Soros-funded AG wanted to dissolve the group over its alleged indiscretions, but a judge ruled that, even if all of her charges were true, they didn’t demand what he called “a death sentence” for the organization.

Most of the charges were proved to be true. The jurors in the first phase of the case against the NRA decreed in February that LaPierre owed more than $4 million in the damages he caused to the group under his control, and Phillips owed $2 million for his malfeasance in facilitating them. The jurors declined to charge LaPierre or Phillips with malfeasance over the sweetheart retirement package, valued at more than $17 million, that LaPierre was able to squeeze out of the organization before he retired.

Phillips’ charges included approving invoices totaling more than $11 million for LaPierre’s frequent private jet flights, and more than $500,000 he spent on eight trips to the Bahamas. He also approved payments totaling $135 million to a single vendor whose owners showered him with free trips to Greece, Dubai, and India. The jury found both top executives guilty of making false and misleading statements in the group’s annual reports and retaliating against eight NRA whistleblowers who came forward with reports of the executives’ misdeeds.

James Gloats

Naturally, AG James was delighted with the jury’s verdict, saying:

Today’s agreement should serve as an example that my office will hold anyone, and everyone, involved in abusing their power or misappropriating funds available….

For decades, Wilson Phillips oversaw and allowed financial mismanagement and corruption at the NRA, and that is why the jury found him, the NRA, and his co-defendants … liable for their misconduct.

She wants to punish the NRA further by seeking an “independent monitor” to oversee the group’s finances in the future. The second phase of her vendetta begins on Monday.

The NRA, although diminished in numbers, revenues, and credibility, and facing an uncertain outcome in that second trial, remains a towering opponent in the Marxist war against the private ownership of firearms in the United States. In 2016 the group spent $30 million on Trump’s presidential campaign. Although its budget for this year’s campaign is unknown, the group endorsed Trump for a second term at its annual convention in May.