Northeast
Former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre found liable for corruption, cost gun rights group more than $5 million: jury
A Manhattan jury in the civil corruption case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its former CEO found the organization liable for financial mismanagement.
The jury determined Wayne LaPierre’s violations of his duties cost the NRA $5,400,000, but he had already repaid roughly $1 million to the organization.
LaPierre was ordered to repay the group $4,351,231.
The New York jury said the NRA’s CEO for three decades misspent millions of dollars of the group’s money on luxury personal purchases.
The decision came at the end of five days of deliberations.
NEW YORK AG OFFICE, EX-NRA OFFICIAL REACH SETTLEMENT DAYS BEFORE TRIAL AGAINST GUN ADVOCACY GROUP’S LEADERSHIP
Former NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. (NRA)
James brought the lawsuit in 2020 and named the NRA, LaPierre, former CFO Wilson “Woody” Philips and general counsel John Frazer as defendants. The attorney general’s office argued the executives used millions in company funds on luxury personal purchases and trips, including hundreds of thousands of dollars on LaPierre’s trips to the Bahamas, according to the AG’s office.
The NRA, however, has long said the case was politically motivated by an attorney general who campaigned for the office by vowing to investigate and take on the group. James was elected to office in November 2018 and publicly slammed the NRA in the lead-up to her becoming New York’s chief law officer. While on the campaign trail, James called the group “an organ of deadly propaganda” and vowed to investigate whether the NRA could keep its charity status.
NEW YORK AG CASE AGAINST NRA LEADER FACES TRIAL AFTER COURT AGAIN REJECTS GUN GROUP’S CLAIM OF POLITICAL PROBE
“The NRA is an organ of deadly propaganda masquerading as a charity for public good,” James wrote in a campaign press release in July 2018. “Its agenda is set by gun-makers who think arming teachers is a better idea than making it harder for kids to get military grade guns.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks outside the New York Supreme Court ahead of former President Trump’s civil business fraud trial in New York on Oct. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Weeks before her election, she described the NRA as “a terrorist organization” in comments to Ebony magazine and “a criminal enterprise” in remarks to local New York media.
In August 2020, she filed a dissolution lawsuit aiming to break up the NRA over alleged corruption. A New York Supreme Court justice ultimately blocked James’ effort to dissolve the organization in a 2022 decision, saying the suit did not meet the requirements of ordering a “corporate death penalty” on the group. The judge did allow the suit against the NRA’s top officials to proceed. James accused officials at the NRA of “years of illegal self-dealing” that provided a “lavish lifestyle.”
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At the trial, which began last month, LaPierre and the three other defendants were accused by Assistant Attorney General Monica Connell of getting caught “with their hands in the cookie jar” and argued the four were trying to deflect and downplay the use of the funds.
“They’re going to try to get you to think about anything except what happened to those cookies,” she said. “They’re going to blame anyone else but themselves.”
National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre speaks during the Leadership Forum at the NRA-ILA Meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston May 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
State attorneys argued during the trial that LaPierre spent roughly $11 million in NRA funds on private flights and about $500,000 on a handful of trips to the Bahamas, as well as “appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty.”
NEW YORK AG CASE AGAINST NRA LEADER FACES TRIAL AFTER COURT AGAIN REJECTS GUN GROUP’S CLAIM OF POLITICAL PROBE
LaPierre, who stepped down as NRA CEO and executive vice president last month after serving since 1991, said earlier in the trial he had made governance changes within the organization since 2021 and had paid about $300,000 back to the group. LaPierre’s attorney argued during the trial that the former NRA chief’s use of private flights was necessary for safety reasons due to his prominent national stature amid the acrimonious gun debate.
“This is a story made up by a person with an agenda that wanted him off the field,” LaPierre’s attorney, Kent Correll, said Thursday in closing arguments.
New York Attorney General Letitia James described the NRA as “a terrorist organization” in comments to Ebony magazine. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“If this case was so important, why wouldn’t she be here?” he added, referring to James’ absence from the courtroom Thursday.
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The NRA’s legal team argued during the trial that the organization worked to address any potential corruption when such issues were first raised by internal complaints.
“When the fraud was discovered, it dug in. It turned over the rocks it was told not to overturn,” attorney Sarah Rogers said. “The NRA left no stone unturned.”
NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks to guests at the 2023 NRA-ILA Leadership Forum April 13, 2023, in Indianapolis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“If this was a case about corruption,”she added, “it wasn’t by the NRA.”
In a statement following the verdict, the NRA said the jury confirmed what “they contended all along — that it was victimized by certain former vendors and ‘insiders’.”
NRA President Charles Cotton said that members should be “heartened” by the organization’s “commitment to best practices.”
“We appreciate the service of the jury and the opportunity to present evidence about the positive direction of the NRA today,” Cotton said. “NRA members should be heartened by the NRA’s commitment to best practices, and we will continue to amplify our compliance record in the pivotal next phase of these proceedings. To the extent there were control violations, they were acted upon immediately by the NRA Board beginning in summer 2018.”
NRA counsel William A. Brewer III maintained that the lawsuit was an “unprecedented weaponization” against the NRA to “supress” the organization.
“The NRA is eager to break the seal on facts surrounding an unprecedented weaponization of power against the NRA and its speech,” Brewer said. “There is little question former and current public officials were conspiring with Everytown and others to financially damage and politically suppress the NRA. Their actions harmed democracy and the rule of law – and letting relevant facts and documents remain secret does, too.”
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Northeast
Rhode Island teacher accused of sexting, kissing high school boy
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A married high school physical education teacher has been indicted on two counts of third-degree sexual assault after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male student.
Alisha Crins is accused of exchanging sexually suggestive messages and engaging in sexual contact with the student while he was enrolled at Ponaganset High School in Rhode Island as a 17-year-old, according to an affidavit cited by WPRI.
The investigation began after the former student filed a formal complaint with Rhode Island State Police in October, the documents obtained by WPRI show.
According to the affidavit, the student told investigators Crins began texting him while he was a sophomore after allegedly finding his cellphone number online.
A sign marks the main entrance to Ponaganset High School in Rhode Island. (Google Maps)
He said she initially asked him to do work for her while she was on vacation, but the two continued communicating through text messages and social media after that plan fell through.
The student alleged the relationship escalated during his junior year. He told investigators Crins frequently complimented his appearance and once asked to wear his jersey during a school pep rally.
He further alleged Crins invited him to meet near her Cranston home, where they kissed inside his vehicle. During a later encounter, she allegedly climbed into the back seat and engaged in sexual contact, according to the affidavit. The student denied having sexual intercourse with her.
The alleged assaults took place between April 1, 2024, and June 30, 2024, according to WJAR.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH CHARGED WITH RAPING FOSTER DAUGHTER, SERVING VICTIM TEQUILA SHOTS: REPORT
A Rhode Island State Police cruiser parked near a waterfront with boats visible in the background. (Rhode Island State Police Facebook)
When questioned by investigators, Crins denied “getting physical” beyond a single kiss but admitted to flirting and exchanging text messages that contained “sexual innuendos,” the affidavit states.
She also acknowledged sending photos and videos and told investigators the two discussed plans to have sex once he turned 18, though she said they never acted on those plans.
The Foster-Glocester Regional School District said Crins resigned from her role at the school Oct. 1, 2025, according to WJAR.
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File image of a woman texting. According to an affidavit, the student told investigators Crins began texting him while he was a sophomore after allegedly finding his cellphone number online. (iStock)
In a statement obtained by the outlet, the district said it is cooperating with authorities and referred further inquiries to state police.
Fox News Digital has reached out to state police for comment.
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Boston, MA
When did Southie get richy-rich? – The Boston Globe
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Born and raised in Southie, Heather Foley has seen her neighborhood morph over the past three decades of scrubbing, renovation, and new construction for higher-income new arrivals.
But even Foley was surprised to discover that her South Boston, where kids once went to the corner to buy milk and cigarettes for parents, has emerged with the city’s second-highest average income, even ahead of Charlestown and Beacon Hill.
Her first thought?: “I gotta start being nicer to my neighbors if that’s the kind of money they’re making.”
What’s a household?
Decades ago, when “Good Will Hunting” was filmed in the neighborhood and Southie was known as a working-class area, there were more kids around and maybe just a single breadwinner in some homes.
Since then, Southie saw more two-earner households, fewer kids, and spiffier rental units where three or four roommates could contribute to a “household.” The changes, along with spillover from the adjacent, pricier Seaport, or South Boston waterfront, are factors in Census data showing more than 40 percent of Southie households earn more than $200,000 a year.
Staying put
Foley, 46, a photo shoot producer, considers herself lucky. She didn’t move out to the South Shore like many neighborhood longtimers. She’s living in a family home on a block with residents — oldtimers and newer arrivals — who aren’t flipping properties for big bucks.
Another blessing, particularly valuable this winter? She has a driveway.
As a kid, she went to church and school at Gate of Heaven, St. Brigid, and St. Peter, and jokes that she’s “so sad I didn’t buy a three-decker with my First Communion money, because I probably could have.”
Waves of gentrification
She remembers the earlier waves of newcomers, when glassy sports bars like Stats Bar & Grille muscled in among longtime restaurants like Amrheins.
But now, even the popular Stats is moving out at the end of the month. The property owner is developing a five-story, mixed-use residential building at the site.
A small silver lining
Foley notes that some of the onetime “newcomers” have been here for three decades — and in some ways, have stabilized the place. Many have raised kids, who, like her son, may return to the neighborhood as young adults (albeit splitting a rented apartment with friends). Stats, the sports bar, says it will also return to the neighborhood’s thriving food scene.
“We have a lot of great restaurants now,” Foley says, “and everyone cleans up after their dog.”
Read: These maps show Boston’s wealthiest and most populous neighborhoods — plus other key trends.
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