LaPierre, Longtime N.R.A. Leader, Faces Trial That Could End His Reign

Ms. James seeks to use her regulatory authority over nonprofit groups to impose a range of financial penalties against the defendants and to remove Mr. LaPierre; any money recovered would flow back to the N.R.A. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Tuesday before State Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

A parade of revelations from recent years will be front and center. Mr. LaPierre, for instance, was a regular for more than a decade at a Zegna boutique in Beverly Hills, where he spent nearly $40,000 of N.R.A. money in a single May 2004 outing. He also billed more than $250,000 for travel to, among other places, Palm Beach, Fla., Reno, Nev., the Bahamas and Italy’s Lake Como. He has argued that these were legitimate business expenses.

During his testimony in the 2021 bankruptcy case, Mr. LaPierre said he did not know Mr. Phillips had received a $360,000-a-year consulting contract after being pushed out of the N.R.A. He also said he was unaware that his personal travel agent, hired by the N.R.A., was charging a 10 percent booking fee for charter flights on top of a retainer of up to $26,000 a month. Mr. LaPierre’s close aide, Millie Hallow was even kept on after being caught diverting $40,000 in N.R.A. funds for her son’s wedding and other personal expenses.

The N.R.A. has said it is being persecuted by New York regulators. The group recently enlisted the support of the American Civil Liberties Union in a federal lawsuit that accuses former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration of misusing their authority by dissuading banks and insurers from doing business with the N.R.A. Ms. James, the group has pointed out repeatedly, vowed to investigate the N.R.A. even before she was elected.

“It’s a matter of faith among members, based on credible external evidence, that the N.R.A. was facing these adverse actions by government officials if not entirely, then in large part, because of their antipathy toward the N.R.A. and its Second Amendment advocacy,” the gun organization’s lead lawyer, William A. Brewer III, said in an interview.