In February, conservative undercover-video activist James O’Keefe left the nonprofit he founded, Project Veritas, amid a dispute with his board over his spending and treatment of employees.
All this came as a surprise to the Project Veritas board, according to a lawsuit it filed Wednesday against O’Keefe. Project Veritas insists that its founder remained an employee until barely two weeks ago — even as he set up a rival organization.
Now Project Veritas is alleging that O’Keefe broke a nondisparagement clause and other parts of his employment contract during his messy exit from the organization. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, includes claims that O’Keefe spent large sums of donors’ money on himself, allegedly including a $150,000 bill on luxury black-car service and $10,000 on a helicopter flight to Maine.
“Being known as the founder of an organization does not entitle that person to run amok and put his own interests ahead of that organization,” the complaint reads.
O’Keefe did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement to The Washington Post, Project Veritas said it is “facing many challenges that are familiar to young organizations.”
“We are making major changes internally due to the nature of our past interpersonal and managerial issues,” the statement reads. “We are more committed than ever to producing great journalism that exposes the stubborn false narratives plaguing our society.”
The lawsuit marks a new escalation in the battle between O’Keefe and the nonprofit he turned into a conservative powerhouse.
O’Keefe rose to prominence on the right in 2009, when he targeted left-wing organizing group ACORN with a sting that featured him dressed as a pimp. ACORN declared bankruptcy in the ensuing controversy, and O’Keefe and his videos aimed at perceived enemies of the right became fixtures on conservative media outlets such as Fox News.
But O’Keefe’s rising celebrity masked dissatisfaction from some employees at Project Veritas, which he had founded as a nonprofit in 2010 to fund his stings. In February, unhappy employees presented the board with a list of allegations against O’Keefe, claiming he subjected staffers to what one described as a “public crucifixion” when he was displeased.
The board investigated allegations that O’Keefe screamed at his subordinates during meetings and used employees for personal errands, such as cleaning his boat, among other claims.
Employees also raised questions about O’Keefe’s use of donor money, which the lawsuit alleges occasionally went to his first-class travel and luxury hotel stays. The board grew worried that O’Keefe’s spending could put its nonprofit status in jeopardy with the Internal Revenue Service, according to a memo reported by The Post.
On Feb. 6, the board put O’Keefe on leave, prompting an outcry from allies in conservative media and the Republican Party. “Not sure what PV does without James,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted.
Even after O’Keefe was put on leave, Project Veritas claims in the lawsuit, O’Keefe used one of the organization’s credit cards to spend about $19,000 on his personal expenses.
After leaving Project Veritas, O’Keefe quickly launched a rival undercover-camera operation called the O’Keefe Media Group, or “OMG.” Project Veritas’s lawsuit alleges that O’Keefe violated other provisions of his contract by attempting to recruit donors and employees from Project Veritas.
Project Veritas is also suing two former Project Veritas communications staffers, R.C. Maxwell and Anthony Iatropoulos. The lawsuit alleges the two men, like O’Keefe, used Project Veritas’s resources to launch the competing group, and refused to return Project Veritas laptops they allegedly used to set up O’Keefe’s new organization.
