New York Attorney General Sues N.R.A. and Seeks Its Closure

There were allegations of incompetence as well. Mr. LaPierre hired a convicted embezzler as a personal assistant who, according to the complaint, went on to be repeatedly accused of using N.R.A. funds for her own expenses. Mr. Frazer, the general counsel, was described as overmatched by his job; he had only 18 months in private practice, and no corporate legal experience. Mr. Frazer did not comment.

Mr. Phillips, the former treasurer and chief financial officer, presided for years with Mr. LaPierre over the N.R.A.’s governance practices. He failed to disclose a personal relationship he had with the chief executive of a company paid $1.4 million by the N.R.A., and after his retirement was paid $30,000 a month for consulting work he did not perform, according to the complaint.

His lawyer, Mark Werbner, disputed the last point, saying Mr. Phillips “definitely did work as part of the consulting agreement,” but offered few specifics. Mr. Werbner added that Mr. Phillips “acted in good faith and is very surprised these transactions are being characterized differently.”

Like Mr. LaPierre, he made use of a contractor’s luxury yacht, though with a slightly different name — it was called “Grand Illusion.”

The lawsuit also claims that testimony by the chairman of the N.R.A.’s audit committee indicated that he had little awareness of its governance role and no knowledge of state law concerning such committees and was unfamiliar with the committee’s own charter, which states that it oversees the organization’s financial integrity.

N.R.A. officials have conducted their own internal audit and defended many of their practices, though several top officials have been forced out amid an internal dispute over how it is run, including Oliver North, its former president, and Christopher Cox, the former top lobbyist. Mr. North, a right-wing pundit, is referred to in the complaint as “Dissident No. 1,” and is said to be cooperating with the inquiry.

A number of accusations were leveled at Mr. Powell, a former top aide to Mr. LaPierre who was dismissed for allegedly misappropriating N.R.A. funds. The complaint says that a consulting firm called McKenna was hired by the N.R.A. to oversee “Project Ben-Hur,” which aimed to restructure the organization and its banking relationships. The firm paid Mr. Powell’s wife $30,000 a month as an independent contractor, through a newly formed company called SPECTRE, a conflict that Mr. Powell took steps to hide, according to the complaint.