D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is taking the National Rifle Association’s charitable foundation to court. A lawsuit announced Thursday alleges the NRA Foundation misused donor funds by diverting money intended for public safety programs to its lobbying arm as well as funding the “lavish” lifestyles of NRA executives.

“Donors gave money to fund firearms safety, firearms education, and marksmanship training,” Racine tweeted Thursday morning. “Instead, that money was diverted to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives.”

The NRA Foundation is incorporated in the District, and the office of the attorney general oversees all nonprofit business activities in D.C. The lawsuit alleges that the NRA Foundation’s trustees violated the District’s Nonprofit Corporations Act. The NRA is listed as a defendant in the suit for allegedly wrongfully demanding loans from the foundation.

According to a press release from the OAG, an investigation by Racine’s office found that “low membership and lavish spending” caused financial problems for the NRA. The lawsuit alleges that as the organization struggled to pay its bills, executives “attempted to exploit” its charitable foundation. According to the suit, the NRA Foundation loaned the NRA $5 million on two occasions, with approval from the board of trustees despite their knowledge of the organization’s financial trouble.

“Charitable organizations function as public trusts — and District law requires them to use their funds to benefit the public, not to support political campaigns, lobbying, or private interests,” Racine said in Thursday’s release.

The District hopes to recover donated funds that it alleges were misused by the NRA — including what the OAG claims is more than $5 million in “management fees.” The investigation revealed that in 2018, the foundation’s board approved a $4 million dollar increase in fees to be paid to the NRA, without documentation “to show that the dramatic increase in management fees was accurate or fair.”

In the release, Racine also issued a warning to other charitable groups. “Nonprofits should be on notice that the Office of the Attorney General will file suit if we find evidence of illegal behavior,” he said.

The NRA Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.

The announcement came on the heels of a lawsuit from the attorney general of New York calling for the dissolution of the National Rifle Association. The organization is also named as a co-defendant in the D.C. lawsuit along with its foundation, and also did not respond to a request for comment.

The suit, filed by Attorney General Letitia James, accuses top NRA leaders of using the gun rights group’s funds for personal gain and engaging in a pattern of fraud to conceal their actions.

James’ office has been investigating the organization for more than a year. The investigation found a “a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement, and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive, and fraudulent,” and contributed to the loss of millions of dollars, according to a statement from the attorney general’s office.

The NRA is headquartered in Fairfax County, Virginia, but is chartered in New York, giving James jurisdiction.

In a series of tweets from the NRA’s official Twitter account, the organization’s president Carolyn Meadows called the suit “a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend.” The NRA filed a countersuit against James, according to the Washington Post.

The suit targets NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre specifically, as well as current and former lieutenants. LaPierre was re-elected as executive vice president and chief executive officer after a bitter internal battle and a controversial vote at the organization’s 2019 convention, which saw the ouster of Oliver North as NRA president.

The NRA and LaPierre have been dogged by allegations of self-dealing and misspent funds for years. And though gun sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic, the NRA has stumbled financially.