The National Rifle Association announced Friday it has filed for bankruptcy and will seek to incorporate the nation’s most politically influential gun-rights group in Texas instead of New York.
The announcement made on the NRA’s website comes months after New York’s attorney general sued the organization over claims that top executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.
Citing the "toxic political environment in New York," LaPierre said in the letter, "Texas values the contributions of the NRA, celebrates our law-abiding members, and joins us as a partner in upholding constitutional freedom."
The coronavirus pandemic has also upended the NRA, which last year laid off dozens of employees, canceled its national convention and scuttled fundraising. Still, the NRA claimed in announcing the move that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years.”
The NRA said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Dallas federal court.
In August 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James moved to dissolve the National Rifle Association following an investigation that found evidence of alleged fraud and abuse by NRA executives.
The gun-rights group boasts about 5 million members. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.
This is a developing story and will be updated.