A judge rejected an effort by a major National Rifle Association vendor to get a bigger voice for suppliers in the gun group’s bankruptcy, ruling there was no proof trade creditors aren’t adequately represented in the chapter 11 case, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Membership Marketing Partners LLC argued that the unsecured creditors committee in the chapter 11 case needed more input from vendors and accused the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog who picked the committee of stacking it with parties that have “an axe to grind” against NRA management. Such requests to reconstitute creditor committees are rarely made in chapter 11. Judge Harlin DeWayne Hale called MMP’s request unusual during a hearing last Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas before he denied MMP’s bid to reconstitute the committee. MMP has a longstanding business relationship with the gun group. It is mentioned in the New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the NRA, which preceded the bankruptcy filing and alleges spending abuses at the nonprofit gun-rights group. The NRA has denied the allegations and claimed they were politically motivated. The lawsuit doesn’t accuse MMP of wrongdoing. The New York complaint describes trips that NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre allegedly took to visit MMP’s principal and stay on his 108-foot yacht while visiting the Bahamas. The lawsuit said Mr. LaPierre’s use of the yacht constituted a gift and wasn’t disclosed by the NRA, a violation of the organization’s bylaws, a claim the NRA and Mr. LaPierre have denied. The company also leases office space in the NRA’s Virginia headquarters, and was paid $71 million by the NRA from 2014 through 2020 for fundraising, mailing and printing, according to court documents filed last week by the NRA in response to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.
