On Wednesday, what’s left of Project Veritas filed suit against its founder, James O’Keefe, claiming that he, along with two other former employees, RC Maxwell and Anthony Iatropoulos, caused “serious and significant damage” to the organization and breached employment agreements when the group’s board of directors allegedly forced O’Keefe out in February.
O’Keefe has since founded O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) where he hopes to continue the same type of work that Project Veritas was famous for, namely undercover sting operations in which people admit shady goings-on in government or corporate entities. In the past year with Project Veritas, O’Keefe and his journalists uncovered bigoted hiring practices in various school districts and alleged wrongdoing at Pfizer concerning the Covid-19 vaccines.
“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. Defendant James O’Keefe (‘O’Keefe’) failed in his duties to Plaintiff, Project Veritas, causing it serious and significant damage,” the opening paragraph of the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs accuse O’Keefe of stealing trade secrets of the organization, which he founded, and of reaching out to donors who had been loyal to the organization prior to the split.
Additionally, Project Veritas claimed that O’Keefe had engaged in unprofessional behavior while still employed by the company.
“Project Veritas’s Board of Directors (‘Board’) heard allegations that O’Keefe routinely behaved unprofessionally during team meetings, including by screaming at coworkers and belittling them and their contributions to Project Veritas,” the lawsuit claimed.
In addition, “O’Keefe was alleged to have particularly targeted female employees with mean-spirited comments about their lack of contributions to the companies and inappropriate comments about personal situations like pregnancies.”
O’Keefe addressed the lawsuit in an appearance on the TimCast IRL podcast on Wednesday evening.
“It’s difficult to watch your own creation and lifeblood attack you,” O’Keefe said. “I’ve moved on because that’s what I’ve been asked to do…. That’s what this whole thing is designed to do. It’s designed to shut me down and silence me.”
O’Keefe learned of the lawsuit when a reporter for The Daily Beast called him.
Although the board of Project Veritas clearly suspended O’Keefe in February, they denied forcing him out of the organization.
“On February 15, 2023, the Project Veritas Executive Director and Board put out a statement explicitly stating that ‘James [O’Keefe] has not been removed from Project Veritas,'” the lawsuit stated. “The statement noted that the Board members ‘all love James [O’Keefe]. They are volunteers handpicked by James [O’Keefe].'”
“The Board did not terminate O’Keefe’s employment, but rather intended to reinstate him with appropriate safeguards.”
Whatever those “safeguards” might have been, they clearly were not OK with O’Keefe, who has a reputation as a maverick when it comes to the stories he reports on.
In its Prayer for Relief against O’Keefe, Project Veritas asks that the court “declare O’Keefe in breach of his Employment Agreement, in violation of his fiduciary duties, and in violation of his duty of loyalty”; declare both Maxwell and Iatropoulos in breach of their employment agreements; “declare O’Keefe to have misappropriated Plaintiffs’ trade secrets”; and issue an injunction to keep O’Keefe from contacting or soliciting donations from Project Veritas’ “donors, employees or contractors.”
O’Keefe quoted Dr. Robert Malone, a physician who was notably skeptical of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, regarding the current situation as it relates to nonprofits:
All it takes is a remarkable success; a big infusion of money; a weak, jealous, confused board using disgruntled employees as shields. The board develops a backwards-looking focus, taking apart the success. “Why did management take those risks? Why did the head of the organization not consult with us? Why did the head of the organization follow industry-established practices? How come the organization’s president did not do something different than what he did to establish long-term success?”
Other insiders in the company start consulting with the board and the plot is hatched. All it takes is an investigation, some claim that the guy at the top is making everyone work too hard…. Once the decision is made to oust the guy, he really has no chance. All that remains is the need to find a pretext. Next thing you know, the unthinkable happens.
Project Veritas’ ousting of O’Keefe fits that scenario perfectly, no matter what they say about “loving” him and wishing to bring him back under a tighter rein.
This lawsuit shows that Project Veritas, as it currently sits, is desperate and looking to stop O’Keefe in his new venture any way they can. Belatedly, Project Veritas’ board realized that they killed their own golden goose. In many ways, Project Veritas and O’Keefe were synonymous. Without O’Keefe, the organization is nothing but a shell of its former self.
