Welcome to the beat I'm Ari Melborough and we're following this breaking news.

Just moments ago a huge legal loss for the National Rifle Association or NRA.

A New York jury found it liable for corruption.

Basically, financial mismanagement that went all the way to the top,

the former CEO Wayne La Pierre corruptly running the organization. He has ordered to pay

over five million dollars a major sum for him in restitution because of the money

that the jury found was a misspent. Millions of NRA money that went to

basically perks, personal spending, lavish lifestyle, trips, yachts, jets, you name

it, it seemed he was sending the money that way.

Now the New York attorney general who brought this case might seem familiar.

She's been in the news recently for a string of victories.

I'm talking about A.G. Leticia James

and this suit dates all the way back to 2020. She and her team have been working on

it for four years. It is a major rebuke to the NRA at a time when many have asked just how America's gun laws got to this point why a country that has overwhelming 60% support for for example basic common sense gun safety can't get those

measures passed on a federal basis well if you follow this issue at all you know

the NRA is a big big part of that and while this isn't a rejection of their legal views on gun

policy it certainly raises major questions about what the NRA has been doing

for years with its own funds and whether it truly represents most

gun owners in America that's why this is a big case in many ways beyond even the

restitution and the big loss by the NRA's former head there.

I want to bring in two of our legal reporters on this, New York Times legal writer Emily

Baselon and MS NBC's Lisa Rubin who's been following the case closely.

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