Project Veritas Ousts Founder James O'Keefe

MAMARONECK, NY — Project Veritas has ousted the founder of the notorious Mamaroneck-based conservative media outfit, James O’Keefe.

In a statement released Monday, the group’s board of directors said it had uncovered "financial malfeasance" and accused O’Keefe of spending "an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries," the Associated Press reported.

Those included "$14,000 on a charter flight to meet someone to fix his boat under the guise of meeting with a donor"; $60,000 in losses from dance events; and more than $150,000 “in Black Cars in the last 18 months," the AP reported. The board statement said O’Keefe had been suspended and invited to meet to discuss financial issues and staff retention and morale but had not done so.

On Monday, O’Keefe posted an emotional speech on Vimeo, denying the accusations. He said he was removing his belongings from the Project Veritas office in Mamaroneck. He said it was intended just for the staff and that he had documentation. "The line that separates good and evil becomes more clear, not just in the institutions we investigate but within each other," he said.

He said he would continue his mission.

O’Keefe founded the nonprofit group 13 years ago. The group's undercover video recordings have created controversy, not only for apparently exposing misdeeds by targets including the mainstream media and liberal groups, but have also led to allegations the videos themselves employed misleading editing and inappropriate out-of-context hidden camera interviews.

Its most recent IRS filings provided to charity regulators in Florida show it brought in more than $20 million in revenue in 2021, according to the AP.

In 2017, Project Veritas' headquarters achieved national prominence after Washington Post reporters staked it out. Post reporters had been approached by a woman accusing then-Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of getting her pregnant when she was 15. After they did some fact-checking and confronted her, she drove to the Project Veritas office on the Boston Post Road and went in, they reported.

In an email to supporters afterward, O'Keefe wrote "Following months of undercover work within The Washington Post, our investigative journalist embedded within the publication had their cover blown."

In 2021, the headquarters received attention again as one of the many businesses and homes on the Sound Shore ruined by devastating flooding during tropical storm Ida. O'Keefe posted a video on YouTube asking for donations to help rebuild.

SEE ALSO:

• Guilty Pleas In Theft Of Biden Journal Reprinted By Project Veritas
• Mamaroneck In The News Again As FBI Raids Project Veritas
• Mamaroneck Organization Tries To Trick Washington Post

The Associated Press contributed to this report.