Court demands campaign finance regulator investigate NRA fraud allegations

A court has told the Federal Elections Commission that it's time to act on allegations that the National Rifle Association violated the law, reported the Campaign Legal Center. The court has given the FEC 30 days to comply with the demands.

"After years of partisan deadlock at the Commission, it has become routine for the FEC to sit on its hands and allow administrative complaints to languish," said the CLC.

The CLC was part of the lawsuit that began in 2018 along with the Giffords Law Center, the branch of the Courage to Fight Gun Violence that handles lawsuits in states around the country. The case detailed a long-running scheme to "coordinate spending on campaign ads with at least seven federal candidates," a violation of campaign finance laws.

"This scheme, which relies on a complex network of shell corporations to hide the coordination from regulators and the public, allowed the NRA to make millions of dollars of illegal, unreported and excessive contributions to federal candidates, including more than $25 million in illegal contributions to former President Donald Trump in 2016," the report explained.

The FEC didn't act on complaints in a "timely manner" the allegations stated, so they filed the lawsuit in 2019. The federal court stepped in this year, demanding action by Nov. 1, 2021

The Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court changed rules about spending limits on groups like the NRA, but they're not allowed to coordinate on any campaign ads and independent expenditures with the candidates or their committees.

"By funneling its advertising spending through the same vendors used by the campaigns, disguised through a series of shell corporations, the NRA was able to coordinate with the candidates it supports while evading contribution limits and holding itself out as an independent advocate, in violation of federal law," said the report.

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