newsinsightplus.com 1980s1990AttributioniPlayerWho April 11, 2024 0 Comments BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaTruong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraudPublished29 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Truong My Lan is accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 yearsBy Jonathan Head & Thu BuiIn BangkokIt was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen. Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan was convicted for taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors said $27bn may never be recovered.The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved. The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges. “There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong. A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party. Image source, Getty ImagesThe campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country’s richest women has joined their ranks. Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community. She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property. All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic. By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank. Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial. They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank’s lending. Vietnam secret document warns of ‘hostile forces’Xi in Vietnam to rekindle a love-hate relationshipUS denies Cold War with China in historic Vietnam visitAccording to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement. That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam’s largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes. She was also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. One of those who was tried used to be a chief inspector at the central bank, who was accused of accepting a $5m bribe.The mass of officially sanctioned publicity about the case channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose haggard, unmade-up appearance in court was in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people had seen of her in the past. But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.Image source, Getty Images”I am puzzled,” says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Because it wasn’t a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations. “It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.”What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away. “Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there.”At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen. He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party’s conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party’s hold on political power. But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States. Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.”That’s the paradox,” says Le Hong Hiep. “Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more.”Related TopicsVietnamAsiaMore on this storyVietnam’s president out after just year in officePublished21 MarchPower shift in Vietnam as president quitsPublished17 January 2023Top StoriesBiden vows ‘ironclad’ support for Israel amid Iran attack fearsPublished10 minutes agoDazzling artwork found at ancient city of PompeiiPublished3 hours agoPressure grows to rethink rough sleeping clampdownPublished9 hours agoFeaturesHow gang violence gripped a tourist havenWhat is the minimum salary UK visa applicants need?Arizona pushes abortion to centre stage of 2024The Papers: ‘Iron clad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’All you need to know for tonight’s Bafta Games AwardsListen: How will Labour plug the gap in NHS funding?AttributionSoundsWas South Korea’s president thwarted by a spring onion?The Indian men traumatised by fighting for RussiaLocal elections 2024: Is there an election in my area?Elsewhere on the BBCA man from 1979 takes on the modern worldSurely things can’t have changed that much? Comedy starring Mike BubbinsAttributioniPlayer’You’ll never meet anybody as miraculous as Sanjeev’Get to know Supermann on Da Beat: a prominent producer, songwriter and promoter of Scottish hip hopAttributioniPlayerFrom the Hubble Telescope to Take ThatRelive the major news and music events of 1990AttributioniPlayerWho are the women that have inspired Courtney Love?The iconic singer-songwriter shares the soundtrack to her life and reflects on her influencesAttributionSoundsMost Read1Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud2Dazzling artwork found at ancient city of Pompeii3Wilson had affair while in No 10, advisers reveal4Police to re-examine Caroline Flack assault charge5Fake UK stamps blamed on Chinese-made counterfeits6US vows support for Israel amid Iran attack fears7Trial lawyer ‘repeatedly crossed line’ with rape survivor8Pressure grows over rough sleeping clampdown9Margot Robbie’s company to produce Monopoly film10’Ironclad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’ [ad_1] Truong My Lan started life as a market trader. Now, she has been convicted of stealing billions. Continue reading
newsinsightplus.com 1980s1990AttributioniPlayerWho April 11, 2024 0 Comments BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaTruong My Lan: Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraudPublished29 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Truong My Lan is accused of looting one of Vietnam’s largest banks over a period of 11 yearsBy Jonathan Head & Thu BuiIn BangkokIt was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen. Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country’s largest banks over a period of 11 years.The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan was convicted for taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors said $27bn may never be recovered.The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved. The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five defendants were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges. “There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era,” says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. “There has certainly been nothing on this scale.”The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the “Blazing Furnaces” anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong. A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party. Image source, Getty ImagesThe campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country’s richest women has joined their ranks. Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community. She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property. All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic. By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank. Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% of Saigon Commercial. They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank’s lending. Vietnam secret document warns of ‘hostile forces’Xi in Vietnam to rekindle a love-hate relationshipUS denies Cold War with China in historic Vietnam visitAccording to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement. That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam’s largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes. She was also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. One of those who was tried used to be a chief inspector at the central bank, who was accused of accepting a $5m bribe.The mass of officially sanctioned publicity about the case channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose haggard, unmade-up appearance in court was in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people had seen of her in the past. But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.Image source, Getty Images”I am puzzled,” says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “Because it wasn’t a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations. “It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market.”David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.”What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away. “Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there.”At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen. He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party’s conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party’s hold on political power. But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States. Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.”That’s the paradox,” says Le Hong Hiep. “Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more.”Related TopicsVietnamAsiaMore on this storyVietnam’s president out after just year in officePublished21 MarchPower shift in Vietnam as president quitsPublished17 January 2023Top StoriesBiden vows ‘ironclad’ support for Israel amid Iran attack fearsPublished10 minutes agoDazzling artwork found at ancient city of PompeiiPublished3 hours agoPressure grows to rethink rough sleeping clampdownPublished9 hours agoFeaturesHow gang violence gripped a tourist havenWhat is the minimum salary UK visa applicants need?Arizona pushes abortion to centre stage of 2024The Papers: ‘Iron clad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’All you need to know for tonight’s Bafta Games AwardsListen: How will Labour plug the gap in NHS funding?AttributionSoundsWas South Korea’s president thwarted by a spring onion?The Indian men traumatised by fighting for RussiaLocal elections 2024: Is there an election in my area?Elsewhere on the BBCA man from 1979 takes on the modern worldSurely things can’t have changed that much? Comedy starring Mike BubbinsAttributioniPlayer’You’ll never meet anybody as miraculous as Sanjeev’Get to know Supermann on Da Beat: a prominent producer, songwriter and promoter of Scottish hip hopAttributioniPlayerFrom the Hubble Telescope to Take ThatRelive the major news and music events of 1990AttributioniPlayerWho are the women that have inspired Courtney Love?The iconic singer-songwriter shares the soundtrack to her life and reflects on her influencesAttributionSoundsMost Read1Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44bn fraud2Dazzling artwork found at ancient city of Pompeii3Wilson had affair while in No 10, advisers reveal4Police to re-examine Caroline Flack assault charge5Fake UK stamps blamed on Chinese-made counterfeits6US vows support for Israel amid Iran attack fears7Trial lawyer ‘repeatedly crossed line’ with rape survivor8Pressure grows over rough sleeping clampdown9Margot Robbie’s company to produce Monopoly film10’Ironclad’ Biden support and ‘radical NHS plan’ [ad_1] Truong My Lan started life as a market trader. Now, she has been convicted of stealing billions. Continue reading
newsinsightplus.com 1980s1Xtra February 23, 2024 0 Comments BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaJury finds NRA and ex-leader Wayne LaPierre liable for corruptionPublished3 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesThe National Rifle Association and its ex-leader, Wayne LaPierre, have been found liable in a civil corruption trial.A New York jury found Mr LaPierre cost the gun rights group millions of dollars through lavish spending on himself.New York Attorney General Letitia James had accused the NRA and Mr LaPierre of violating state laws. Mr LaPierre stepped down from his job just before the trial began. On Friday, the jury found that Mr LaPierre cost the group a total of $5.4m (£4.26m), of which slightly more than $1m has already been repaid. He must now bay $4.35m. While former NRA finance chief Wilson “Woody” Phillips, general counsel John Frazer and the NRA itself are also co-defendants, Mr LaPierre has been characterised as the “central figure” of the case. The jury found that Mr Phillips cost the NRA $2m through mismanagement. Mr Frazer was found to not have cost the organisation financially. In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, after the trial, Ms James said that Mr LaPierre and the NRA “are finally being held accountable for this rampant corruption and self-dealing”. Altogether, she said the group and two executives must pay $6.35m.”In New York, you cannot get away from corruption and greed, no matter how powerful or influential you think you may be,” she wrote. “Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules.” In the trial, defence attorneys for the three men and the NRA sought to portray the proceedings as a “baseless, premeditated attack” and politically-motivated “witch hunt” by Ms James, a Democrat. But during closing arguments, assistant attorney general Monica Connell said that the NRA, a registered charity, should have spent the funds on its primary mission, rather than on lavish expenses, and of trying to shift responsibility after the fact. “Saying you’re sorry now, saying maybe you’ll put back a couple of those cookies, doesn’t mean you didn’t take the cookies,” Ms Connell said. Over the course of the six-week trial, prosecutors detailed several specific expenses that they said showed that Mr LaPierre and other top leaders used NRA funds as their “personal piggy bank”. One example of misconduct alleged in the lawsuit stated that Mr LaPierre visited the Bahamas more than eight times by private plane using funds intended for the NRA, for a total cost of $500,000 (£380,000).The evidence also included helicopter trips to car races to avoid being stuck in traffic and expense reports for reimbursement of money spent on landscaping and mosquito treatment at his home, as well as gifts for friends and family and “out-of-pocket” expenses such as hair and makeup styling for Mr LaPierre’s wife. The judge must now determine – without a jury – whether independent monitors and experts will be installed to oversee the NRA’s charitable assets and administration, and whether Mr LaPierre and Mr Phillips should be barred from re-election or appointments as officers in the NRA or other New York-based non-profits. Additionally, the judge must determine whether the NRA and Mr Frazer should be barred from soliciting or collecting funds for charities in New York.Though based in Virginia, the NRA is incorporated in New York City. The attorney general’s Charities Bureau is responsible for oversight of any non-profit organisation, which has strict state and federal rules governing spending.Founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to “promote and encourage rifle shooting”, the NRA has grown into one of the most powerful political organisations in the US.The NRA now lobbies heavily against all forms of gun control and argues aggressively that more guns make the country safer. It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution that individuals are guaranteed the right to own guns.But the NRA has taken a back seat within the gun rights movement in recent years, as its legal costs soared while revenue and membership dues plummeted.Related TopicsNRAUnited StatesMore on this storyWhy is US gun lobby group NRA so powerful?Published13 April 2023When parents get the blame for a child’s mass shootingPublished6 FebruaryMexico can sue US gunmakers, court rulesPublished23 JanuaryTop StoriesWW2 bomb detonated at sea after removal through cityPublished50 minutes agoSpanish police search gutted flats after nine killedPublished2 hours agoTrump calls on Alabama to protect IVF treatmentPublished1 hour agoFeaturesWhy jet streams mean ‘piggy-backing’ planes can fly across the Atlantic faster. VideoWhy jet streams mean ‘piggy-backing’ planes can fly across the Atlantic fasterAttributionWeatherFrom crying in the toilets to cycling world titlesFrontline medics count cost of two years of Ukraine warWhat are the sanctions on Russia and are they working?Special year ahead for R&B, says new 1Xtra hostFirst private Moon mission marks new era for space travelThe young Bollywood star taking on HollywoodListen: No Return for Shamima Begum. AudioListen: No Return for Shamima BegumAttributionSoundsThe ‘mind-bending’ bionic arm powered by AIElsewhere on the BBCHow are jelly beans made?Gregg Wallace visits a Dublin factory that makes over ten million of the sweets per day!AttributioniPlayerThe good, the bad and the bafflingWhen the British public leave a review, they almost always write something hilariousAttributionSoundsFrom the largest ship to disasters on deck…A closer look at times when cruise ships have caused commotionAttributioniPlayerHow did a booming computer manufacturer go bust?Commodore computers were huge in the 1980s, so why couldn’t the business adapt and survive?AttributionSoundsMost Read1WW2 bomb detonated at sea after removal through city2Dowden’s cancer check finds no evidence of disease3Trump calls on Alabama to protect IVF treatment4King Charles enjoys jokes in cards of support5US jets intercept high-altitude balloon over Utah6Ukraine says it downs second A-50 Russian spy plane7Cat killer found guilty of murdering man8Navalny’s mother ‘given hours to agree to secret burial’9Spanish police search gutted flats after nine killed10Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy [ad_1] The jury found former CEO Wayne LaPierre cost the guns group $5.4m through lavish spending on himself. Continue reading
newsinsightplus.com 1980s1Xtra February 23, 2024 0 Comments BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaJury finds NRA and ex-leader Wayne LaPierre liable for corruptionPublished3 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesThe National Rifle Association and its ex-leader, Wayne LaPierre, have been found liable in a civil corruption trial.A New York jury found Mr LaPierre cost the gun rights group millions of dollars through lavish spending on himself.New York Attorney General Letitia James had accused the NRA and Mr LaPierre of violating state laws. Mr LaPierre stepped down from his job just before the trial began. On Friday, the jury found that Mr LaPierre cost the group a total of $5.4m (£4.26m), of which slightly more than $1m has already been repaid. He must now bay $4.35m. While former NRA finance chief Wilson “Woody” Phillips, general counsel John Frazer and the NRA itself are also co-defendants, Mr LaPierre has been characterised as the “central figure” of the case. The jury found that Mr Phillips cost the NRA $2m through mismanagement. Mr Frazer was found to not have cost the organisation financially. In a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter, after the trial, Ms James said that Mr LaPierre and the NRA “are finally being held accountable for this rampant corruption and self-dealing”. Altogether, she said the group and two executives must pay $6.35m.”In New York, you cannot get away from corruption and greed, no matter how powerful or influential you think you may be,” she wrote. “Everyone, even the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, must play by the same rules.” In the trial, defence attorneys for the three men and the NRA sought to portray the proceedings as a “baseless, premeditated attack” and politically-motivated “witch hunt” by Ms James, a Democrat. But during closing arguments, assistant attorney general Monica Connell said that the NRA, a registered charity, should have spent the funds on its primary mission, rather than on lavish expenses, and of trying to shift responsibility after the fact. “Saying you’re sorry now, saying maybe you’ll put back a couple of those cookies, doesn’t mean you didn’t take the cookies,” Ms Connell said. Over the course of the six-week trial, prosecutors detailed several specific expenses that they said showed that Mr LaPierre and other top leaders used NRA funds as their “personal piggy bank”. One example of misconduct alleged in the lawsuit stated that Mr LaPierre visited the Bahamas more than eight times by private plane using funds intended for the NRA, for a total cost of $500,000 (£380,000).The evidence also included helicopter trips to car races to avoid being stuck in traffic and expense reports for reimbursement of money spent on landscaping and mosquito treatment at his home, as well as gifts for friends and family and “out-of-pocket” expenses such as hair and makeup styling for Mr LaPierre’s wife. The judge must now determine – without a jury – whether independent monitors and experts will be installed to oversee the NRA’s charitable assets and administration, and whether Mr LaPierre and Mr Phillips should be barred from re-election or appointments as officers in the NRA or other New York-based non-profits. Additionally, the judge must determine whether the NRA and Mr Frazer should be barred from soliciting or collecting funds for charities in New York.Though based in Virginia, the NRA is incorporated in New York City. The attorney general’s Charities Bureau is responsible for oversight of any non-profit organisation, which has strict state and federal rules governing spending.Founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to “promote and encourage rifle shooting”, the NRA has grown into one of the most powerful political organisations in the US.The NRA now lobbies heavily against all forms of gun control and argues aggressively that more guns make the country safer. It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution that individuals are guaranteed the right to own guns.But the NRA has taken a back seat within the gun rights movement in recent years, as its legal costs soared while revenue and membership dues plummeted.Related TopicsNRAUnited StatesMore on this storyWhy is US gun lobby group NRA so powerful?Published13 April 2023When parents get the blame for a child’s mass shootingPublished6 FebruaryMexico can sue US gunmakers, court rulesPublished23 JanuaryTop StoriesWW2 bomb detonated at sea after removal through cityPublished50 minutes agoSpanish police search gutted flats after nine killedPublished2 hours agoTrump calls on Alabama to protect IVF treatmentPublished1 hour agoFeaturesWhy jet streams mean ‘piggy-backing’ planes can fly across the Atlantic faster. VideoWhy jet streams mean ‘piggy-backing’ planes can fly across the Atlantic fasterAttributionWeatherFrom crying in the toilets to cycling world titlesFrontline medics count cost of two years of Ukraine warWhat are the sanctions on Russia and are they working?Special year ahead for R&B, says new 1Xtra hostFirst private Moon mission marks new era for space travelThe young Bollywood star taking on HollywoodListen: No Return for Shamima Begum. AudioListen: No Return for Shamima BegumAttributionSoundsThe ‘mind-bending’ bionic arm powered by AIElsewhere on the BBCHow are jelly beans made?Gregg Wallace visits a Dublin factory that makes over ten million of the sweets per day!AttributioniPlayerThe good, the bad and the bafflingWhen the British public leave a review, they almost always write something hilariousAttributionSoundsFrom the largest ship to disasters on deck…A closer look at times when cruise ships have caused commotionAttributioniPlayerHow did a booming computer manufacturer go bust?Commodore computers were huge in the 1980s, so why couldn’t the business adapt and survive?AttributionSoundsMost Read1WW2 bomb detonated at sea after removal through city2Dowden’s cancer check finds no evidence of disease3Trump calls on Alabama to protect IVF treatment4King Charles enjoys jokes in cards of support5US jets intercept high-altitude balloon over Utah6Ukraine says it downs second A-50 Russian spy plane7Cat killer found guilty of murdering man8Navalny’s mother ‘given hours to agree to secret burial’9Spanish police search gutted flats after nine killed10Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy [ad_1] The jury found former CEO Wayne LaPierre cost the guns group $5.4m through lavish spending on himself. Continue reading