NRA Concerned Oliver North Will Disclose Private Information
NRA Seeks Right to Monitor Deposition of Ex-Chief Oliver North
(Bloomberg) -- The National Rifle Association is worried that its disgruntled former president Oliver North will hand over confidential information about the gun-rights group when he’s questioned by the New York attorney general.
The NRA on Friday asked a judge for a court order to allow its lawyers to be present for the deposition, scheduled for Aug. 20, after New York Attorney General Letitia James refused the group’s request this week. On Friday, the judge scheduled a hearing on the matter for Monday in Manhattan.
North was ousted by the NRA after questioning how the organization’s money was being spent and publicly clashed with Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre. The spat prompted James to open a probe into the non-profit status of the New York-chartered NRA, further plunging the group into chaos.
James issued subpoenas to North in July, demanding he sit for questioning and hand over documents supporting his concerns about financial impropriety, mismanagement and misuse of funds by the NRA, as well governance failures and any other wrongdoing, the organization said.
“Mr. North is not an attorney and, in answering these questions, he may -- wittingly or unwittingly -- reveal the substance of protected communications and information,“ NRA lawyer Svetlana Eisenberg said in an Aug. 15 letter to James, a copy of which was attached to the group’s filing.
North’s lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
“The NRA’s scare tactics simply won’t work here,” James said Friday in an emailed statement. “Our investigation is proceeding with the same focus and fairness we apply to any case. Whether its deposing NRA leaders or fact finding through other investigative tools, we will ensure that justice is served because no one is above the law.”
The NRA said it asked North’s lawyers earlier this month to let the gun-rights group review any documents he planned to hand over to James to make sure no privileged information was disclosed.
But after an initial review of 899 pages of documents provided by North, the NRA said it “further underscored the NRA’s concern about the need to be present during North’s examination,” according to the filing.
“The review identified a document that is wholly privileged on attorney-client privilege and work-product grounds and needed to be withheld from the production in its entirety,” the organization said in the filing. “In addition, there were 37 additional redactions that needed to be applied to the draft production, but that North’s counsel had not made.”
Internal divisions in the NRA spilled into public view after letters written by North to senior officers and directors were leaked to the press. North raised questions about spending on personal items and travel related to LaPierre, outside vendors and the group’s outside legal counsel. He said he objected to LaPierre’s receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in clothing, private-jet travel and other benefits.
--With assistance from Bob Van Voris.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth
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