Incendiary N.R.A. Videos Find New Critics: N.R.A. Leaders

William A. Brewer III, the N.R.A.’s outside counsel, said Ms. James had given no indication when she was a candidate that “the N.R.A. had done anything improper,” adding that she had instead promised “a taxpayer-funded fishing expedition.”A number of transactions[1] could draw scrutiny. Since 2010, the N.R.A. has paid $18 million to a company that produces “Under Wild Skies,” a hunting show on NRATV. Tyler Schropp, the N.R.A.’s advancement director, came to the organization in 2010 from Ackerman, and had a stake in the production company until at least 2017, but “no longer holds any interest,” Mr. Brewer said.Federal rules restrict transactions that confer economic benefits[2] on key executives of tax-exempt organizations.Mr. Brewer described Mr. Schropp’s stake as “a minuscule interest” that the N.R.A. found not to be objectionable. Payments related to “Under Wild Skies” emerged only recently in N.R.A. tax filings.Other issues unrelated to Ackerman could also surface. The N.R.A. has transferred more than $100 million since 2012 from an affiliated charity that also lent the N.R.A. $5 million in 2017. Donations to the charity, the N.R.A. Foundation, are tax-deductible, while those to the N.R.A. are not.“If you’re doing a program that’s charitable, you run it through the charity,” said David G. Samuels, a partner at Duval & Stachenfeld who served in the charities bureau of the New York Attorney General’s Office, which oversees tax-exempt organizations. Such practices raise “red flags,” he said.Like some nonprofits, the N.R.A. has been lucrative for its top executives. Mr. LaPierre’s compensation rose from less than $200,000 in the mid-1990s[3] to nearly $1.5 million in 2017. It spiked to more than $5 million in 2015, largely because of a retirement plan payout.References^ transactions (www.wsj.com)^ restrict transactions that confer economic benefits (www.irs.gov)^ less than $200,000 in the mid-1990s (articles.latimes.com)

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