Project Veritas filed a lawsuit against its founder James O’Keefe, on Wednesday. This was months after O’Keefe had been fired from the company.
The outlet filed a lawsuit against O’Keefe at the federal court of southern district New York.
The suit says that “being known as the founding member of an organization doesn’t entitle a person to go berserk and put their own interests before that organization.”
The lawsuit claims that the board was made aware of “serious accusations by Project Veritas staff about incredibly troubling workplace misconduct and financial misconduct committed by O’Keefe.” It cited allegations such as screaming at coworkers and “targeting” women employees, and creating “strained relationships” with donors.
O’Keefe has also been accused of misusing Project Veritas funds for laundry, cleaning the boat and other errands.
According to an earlier report, the suit was filed after board members considered O’Keefe’s February removal and placed him on a paid leave. The Daily Beast reported that employees were unhappy with O’Keefe’s leadership and claimed he was “outright cruel” towards his staff.
Project Veritas claimed that they “had no intention to terminate Mr. O’Keefe at the Board’s February 6, 2023 meeting.”
In fact, his termination was not until May 15, 2023. The goal was to find a solution that would be amicable to the mismanagement of personnel and the excessive expenditures in an organization that had experienced significant growth.
Project Veritas claims that O’Keefe also missed several board meetings.
O’Keefe published a video later expressing his gratitude for his staff.
In his video, O’Keefe stated that “Project Veritas won’t be stopped by the outside world. It will only stop because we stop ourselves.”
O’Keefe claimed that he had been stripped of the title of CEO, and removed from his board of directors.
