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Wednesday June 03, 2026
(NEW YORK) -- An appellate court in New York has upheld a $4.3 million judgment imposed on former National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre after he was found liable of misappropriating money.
The Appellate Division's First Department also upheld the prohibition on LaPierre from holding a position as an officer or director of the NRA for 10 years.
"The 10-year ban does not burden LaPierre’s rights to freedom of speech and association, as he remains a member of the NRA and is not precluded from making any public statements or involving himself in fundraising or other outreach," the opinion said. "Neither does the monetary restitution amount constitute a fine. Instead, it serves the remedial purpose of reimbursing the NRA for the losses LaPierre caused, making it compensatory in nature."
The decision is a victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued the NRA, LaPierre and other current and former officers for self-dealing, alleging they violated New York charities laws by mismanaging the NRA's funds.
The lawsuit was filed in 2020, claiming they misappropriated millions of dollars to fund personal benefits -- including private jets, family vacations and luxury goods. The accusations came at the end of a three-year investigation into the NRA, which is registered in New York as a nonprofit charitable corporation.
“Wayne LaPierre and other senior NRA leaders broke the law by funneling millions of dollars in lavish perks to themselves and their families,” James said in a statement celebrating the appeals court decision.
"This decision upholds the jury’s verdict and is another victory in our efforts to ensure that LaPierre is held accountable for his illegal self-dealing,” James said.
LaPierre argued James brought the case against him in retaliation for his speech advocating for gun rights, but the court rejected that, writing the "Attorney General 'showed as a matter of law that it had probable cause to investigate and sue,' since 'public reports of malfeasance at the NRA predated the investigation' and the investigation uncovered ample evidence of malfeasance.”
LaPierre announced his resignation from the organization in January 2024, days before the start of the trial, citing health reasons, according to the NRA.
After five days of deliberations, a jury in New York in February 2024 held the NRA liable for financial mismanagement and found that LaPierre corruptly ran the nation's most prominent gun rights group.
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(ATLANTIC BEACH, S.C.) --At least 19 people were injured early Sunday in a crowd stampede at an annual motorcycle festival in Atlantic Beach, South Carolina, authorities said.
The incident at the Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival occurred just after 1 a.m. local time near a stage at the event. Police suspect it was started by an individual who suddenly began running through the crowd, officials said.
"At no time were there any confirmed fights, weapons, or direct threats to public safety. The situation appears to have been triggered when an individual began running, causing a brief chain reaction within the crowd that lasted only seconds," Atlantic Beach Interim Town Manager Titus Leaks said in a statement.
Leaks said that police officers assigned to crowd control at the event in Atlantic Beach, about 17 miles north of Myrtle Beach, quickly calmed the panicked crowd and restored order.
In an earlier online statement, Horry County Fire Rescue (HCFR) referred to the stampede as a "mass casualty incident."
HCFR reported that 19 people were evaluated for non-life-threatening injuries and three people were hospitalized.
Leaks said that once the situation was stabilized, the event resumed normal operations.
"First and foremost, we want to express our sincere concern for anyone who was injured or impacted," Leaks said. "Any situation where individuals are harmed is taken seriously, and our thoughts are with those affected as they recover. The safety and well-being of our residents and visitors remains our highest priority."
The Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival has been held every Memorial Day weekend for the past 40 years, attracting visitors and motorcycle enthusiasts from across the country, officials said.
Last year's event was marred by several high-profile incidents, including a party boat shooting in Little River and multiple fights that sent several people to the hospital, according to ABC affiliate station WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina.
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(MALDIVES) - -Two investigations, including a culpable homicide probe, have been launched into the deep-water expedition in the Maldives that claimed the lives of five Italian scuba divers, and authorities said they didn't know the group would be exploring a cave.
Both the Maldives government and prosecutors in Rome announced the investigations as the remains of two more divers were recovered from an underwater cave in the Indian Ocean.
In addition to the probe by the Maldives government, prosecutors in Rome have opened a culpable homicide investigation into the tragedy, sources told the Italian news agency ANSA.
It's not immediately clear if any specific person or persons are the target of that probe.
Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a spokesperson for the Maldives president's office, said the investigation by the Maldives government will focus on whether those in charge of the fatal expedition "took the correct precautions" and underwent the necessary planning.
"We believe that the retrieval of the bodies will itself reveal a lot, as far as that part of the investigation is concerned," said Shareef, according to The Associated Press. "But that doesn’t take from the fact that cave diving in itself is very, very dangerous.”
Shareef said the scuba-diving group -- which was led by Monica Montefalcone, a marine researcher and an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa -- had been issued a permit for the diving expedition.
"While they had a permit, there are certain gaps in the research proposal," Shareef said.
He said the Maldives government was not informed that the group would be exploring an underwater cave.
"We didn't know the exact location they were diving," Shareef said.
He said two of the divers who died were not on the list of researchers that organizers had submitted.
"So we didn't know they were part of the expedition as well. So, all these factors are being reviewed," Shareef said.
Shareef said the scuba diving group was on an excursion he described as "very, very challenging" due to the depth, terrain, powerful current and strong draft in the area of the dive.
"The visibility, for example, once you enter the cave, would be almost zero; that’s what we are being told," Shareef said.
The divers went missing on Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
A Maldives military diver died on Saturday while working to recover the bodies of victims, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
Officials called the recovery effort a "very dangerous, high-risk operation." The search was suspended at one point on Friday due to bad weather, the AP reported.
The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa identified the deceased divers as Montefalcone; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a University of Genoa biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a University of Genoa research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, a recent University of Genoa graduate in marine biology and ecology.
The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
The Maldives government said three of the bodies have been recovered. On Tuesday, a Finnish diving team retrieved two bodies from the third chamber of a deep-water cave, Shareef said.
Shareef said the identities of the two recovered divers are pending autopsies. But Antonello Riccio, an attorney for Gualtieri's family, confirmed that the remains of Montefalcone and Gualtieri were recovered on Tuesday.
Ahmed Shaam, another spokesperson for the Maldives government, said the bodies were found lying at a depth of around 200 feet. The legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is nearly 100 feet, officials said.
The Maldives government said on Monday that four bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by the Finnish diving team. Divers are expected to return to the cave on Wednesday to recover the two remaining bodies.
"As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave, but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part," Shaam said.
He said that the four bodies were found "pretty much together."
Earlier in the recovery operation, the body of the diving instructor who was part of the lost group was recovered outside the cave, Maldives government officials said.
ABC News' Othon Leyva, Phoebe Natanson and Clark Bentson contributed to this report.
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(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. officials have issued a new warning to Americans still in Iraq, advising them to leave the country immediately as Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may "intend to conduct attacks" in central Baghdad.
"U.S. citizens should leave Iraq now," said the alert issued on Thursday by the United States Embassy and Consulate in Iraq, which has previously issued warnings for Americans to leave the country due to security risks.
The new alert comes as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has entered its second month.
The security alert also came just days after an American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, was kidnapped in broad daylight on a busy street in Baghdad, allegedly by an Iran-linked militia group.
"Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours," the U.S. Embassy's alert said.
The embassy's statement added that Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias have already conducted "widespread attacks against U.S. citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including the Iraqi Kurdistan Region."
The alert cautioned Americans to be aware that militia groups "may claim to be associated with the Iraqi government."
"Terrorists may carry identification denoting their status as Iraqi government employees," according to the alert.
In addition to U.S. citizens, terrorist militias might also target businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports and "other locations perceived to be associated with the United States," according to the alert.
While telling U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately, U.S. officials also said the only escape routes out of Iraq are overland to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey because the airspace is closed, preventing commercial airlines from flying out of Iraq.
"Local ground transportation options are functioning. Americans should depart now via one of these overland routes," according to the alert.
For the time being, the U.S. Mission in Iraq remains open. But the alert advised Americans not to go there.
"Do not attempt to come to the Embassy in Baghdad or the Consulate General in Erbil in light of significant security risks," the alert said.
The search for Kittleson, 49, a freelance journalist originally from Wisconsin, continued on Thursday, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.
"We have no answer or explanation," the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday about Kittleson's abduction.
In a security camera recording verified by ABC News and confirmed by Iraq's interior ministry to show the moment Kittleson was kidnapped on Tuesday, the journalist is seen standing on a sidewalk as a silver car approaches before she is pushed towards the car, which then quickly speeds away.
One suspect alleged to be involved in the kidnapping was arrested when one of the cars fleeing the scene crashed and overturned, according to Iraq's interior ministry. Kittleson had been forced into another car that got away.
Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs for the State Department, said in a statement on Wednesday that the suspect has ties to the Iranian-aligned militia group Kataib Hezbollah.
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