The chief executive of the rightwing muckraker Project Veritas resigned on Monday, saying the non-profit had become “an unsalvageable mess” and alleging “past illegality” and “past financial improprieties” at the group founded by the political provocateur James O’Keefe.
“I am stepping down from all roles with Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action – effective immediately,” Hannah Giles said.
“Though I had high hopes when I joined the organisations, I stepped into an unsalvageable mess – one wrought with strong evidence of past illegality and past financial improprieties. Once such evidence was discovered, I brought the information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”
O’Keefe and Project Veritas rose to notoriety with stings against progressive targets, often involving hidden cameras.
Prominent targets included Acorn, a community activism group O’Keefe helped bring down by posing as a pimp seeking to set up a brothel; the Washington Post, which exposed an apparent attempt to plant fake news regarding a US Senate race in Alabama; Mary Landrieu, a Democratic senator from Louisiana, in an operation tied to healthcare reform; and Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley Biden, whose diary Project Veritas obtained, though it never used it.
O’Keefe has consistently denied wrongdoing, though in 2010 he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour and was fined and sentenced to probation and community service regarding a break-in at Landrieu’s office. He has also claimed Project Veritas employees were journalists and should be accorded first amendment protections.
O’Keefe left the group in February, having been put on paid leave by its board.
The board said he had “spent an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries” and filed a civil complaint.
An internal memo, compiled by staff members and widely reported said: “James has become a power-drunk tyrant, and he is exactly who he pontificates on who we should be exposing.”
Project Veritas is claiming that James O'Keefe "blew their money on his musical theater dreams"? That can't possibly be true. This was worth every penny they spent. https://t.co/wbBs2Fk2De pic.twitter.com/hyw4SwzPGL
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 9, 2023
The memo also included staff complaints about “all the theatre stuff” O’Keefe spent money on, including a video of him dancing to a spoof on a Prince song, posted to the Project Veritas website to celebrate a suspension from Twitter.
In August, the Nation first reported that Veritas was under investigation in Westchester county, New York, apparently over “alleged financial improprieties during his tenure as the group’s chairman and chief executive”.
In September, an auditor said O’Keefe had covered personal expenses with Project Veritas funds.
Giles was appointed to lead Project Veritas in June. On Monday, the group did not immediately comment on her resignation and statement.
