NRA head Wayne LaPierre, America’s most public gun rights advocate, made $1.4 million in 2017 — here’s what we know, and don’t know, about his finances

REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Wayne LaPierre is the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), an American gun rights advocacy group.
While LaPierre’s exact net worth is unknown, one estimate has put it at $10 million.
He was paid more than $1.4 million in total compensation in 2017, according to NRA-filed tax documents.
LaPierre travels by private plane for security reasons.
His spending has come under scrutiny under recent months, as leaked documents suggest that the CEO spent nearly $275,000 over 15 years at a luxury men’s clothing boutique in Beverly Hills, California.
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As the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Wayne LaPierre has been the public face of gun rights advocacy for years — and records indicate that he’s made millions doing so.

While LaPierre’s exact net worth is unknown, one estimate has put it at $10 million. The NRA declined to comment on LaPierre’s net worth when reached by Business Insider.

LaPierre was paid more than $1.4 million in 2017, according to NRA-filed tax documents. The Washington Post found that he made more than $5 million in 2015, including a payout that year of a $3.7 million retirement plan.

Here’s what we know about the CEO’s finances.

Wayne LaPierre is the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), an American gun rights advocacy group.

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LaPierre has held the position for 28 years, since 1991.

While LaPierre’s exact net worth is unknown, one estimate puts it at $10 million. In 2017, his compensation was more than $1.4 million.

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

While LaPierre’s exact net worth is unknown, one estimate by Celebrity Net Worth has put it at $10 million, based on his NRA salary as disclosed in the organization’s Form 990 filings.

Celebrity Net Worth looks at publicly available information including salaries, real-estate holdings, divorces, record sales, royalties and endorsements, removing estimated taxes, manager’s fees, agent fees, and lifestyle expenses.

In 2017, the most recent year available, NRA paid LaPierre a salary of $1,366,688, plus an additional $67,289 in "other compensation from the organization and related organizations," according to the company’s 2017 990 tax form. That brings his total compensation that year to $1,433,977.

Five years earlier, in 2012, LaPierre made $974,867 in total compensation.

In 2004, the earliest year the NRA’s 990 forms are available, LaPierre’s salary was $633,823. LaPierre’s income from his books and speaking engagements is unknown.

And LaPierre’s pay wouldn’t necessarily cease if he were to step down from the company.

According to an investigation by The New Yorker, state records show that LaPierre’s contract "provides for consulting services and personal appearances upon the end of his employment, at an annual rate that starts at his currently contracted final base salary and is later reduced." As in: The exec would continue to make his salary, or close to it, after retirement.

In response to The New Yorker’s reporting, Bill Brewer, a lawyer who represents the NRA, told the publication that the NRA "has serious concerns about the accuracy of this reporting and The New Yorker’s sources. Of course, we cannot comment on privileged communications or personnel matters."

Between 2014 to 2015, as the NRA thrived, the CEO got a pay increase to more than $5 million.

REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

Thanks to a retirement payout, LaPierre’s compensation rose by more than $4 million, according to tax forms obtained by The Washington Post. A San Francisco tax attorney, Marc Fosse, told the Post that such retirement payouts are typical for highly compensated employees.

"It probably had a vesting age, a normal retirement age, a normal retirement date in it, and that date hit and he had to take the benefits," Fosse said.

In 2014, LaPierre made $985,885, according to the documents. The very next year, in 2015, he brought in $5,110,985.

Most of the extra cash came from the payout of a $3.7 million retirement plan. His salary was also bumped to $1,090,515 and he received a $150,000 bonus.

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on the nature of the retirement payout.

The raise coincided with a bump in revenue of the NRA itself. The organization brought in $336 million in revenue in 2015, about $26 million more than the year before.

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