The founder of Project Veritas, a conservative nonprofit known for its hidden camera stings, is under investigation by a suburban New York prosecutor’s office in the latest fallout after his ouster from the group over allegations that he mistreated workers and misspent organization funds.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Westchester County district attorney’s office confirmed Friday it is “looking into” matters concerning James O’Keefe, who was suspended in February and later fired as chairman and CEO.
Jin Whang, a spokesperson for District Attorney Mimi Rocah, declined to discuss the subject or details of the investigation, or what potential charges, if any, O’Keefe could face.
O’Keefe’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, blamed the investigation on “disgruntled former employees of Project Veritas who had a problem with their CEO using too many car services to pay for fundraising efforts which paid their salaries.”
In a statement, CEO Hannah Giles said, “Project Veritas did not initiate any potential investigation the Westchester DA’s office may be conducting with respect to James O’Keefe.
The organization sued O’Keefe in May, accusing him of breaching his contract with “incredibly troubling workplace and financial misconduct,” including screaming at colleagues, exposing employees to obscene messages and having staffers run errands for him, such as picking up laundry and cleaning his boat.
According to the lawsuit, Project Veritas’ board had intended to reinstate O’Keefe from his suspension “with appropriate safeguards,” but ultimately terminated his employment in May after he claimed in media interviews that the organization had fired him to appease a pharmaceutical company over its reporting on COVID-19.
The original article contains 495 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!