Originally published September 21, 2023 11:16 am PDT
Project Veritas, the undercover journalism group established by James O’Keefe, has halted all its operations as it confronts serious financial difficulties and successive rounds of staff reductions.
This journalism platform, renowned for its sting operations, found itself mired in financial trouble, leading to the suspension of all its functions this Wednesday.
Jennifer Kiyak, the HR director of Project Veritas, dispatched a letter, titled “Reduction in Force,” to the personnel of the organization, expressing the pressing need to cease operations temporarily due to the acute financial distress they are undergoing.
The letter conveyed, “In the interest of preserving the possible future existence of Project Veritas we need to put operations on pause and, as communicated since the Spring, another Reduction in Force (“RIF”) is necessary.”
In this critical period, the organization relieved six staff members of their duties, leaving just 11 individuals, including CEO Hannah Giles, on its payroll.
These layoffs encompassed the entirety of the remaining journalistic team and a development associate.
Kiyak stressed in her correspondence that maintaining the current level of staff is unsustainable and reminded the departing employees of their obligation to their nondisclosure agreements.
The organization’s founder, James O’Keefe, renowned for his controversial undercover operations, started Project Veritas in 2010.
However, he distanced himself from the entity earlier this year amid accusations of misappropriating organizational funds for personal luxuries.
Subsequently, Hannah Giles assumed the role of CEO and presided over the organization as it went through a phase of acute instability, marked by numerous resignations and debilitating financial challenges.
Mediaite recently unveiled details of an internal meeting led by Giles, during which she declared the organization “bankrupt.”
Among those dismissed this Wednesday was Bobby Harr, previously a principal investigative reporter at Project Veritas.
He recounted his perplexity upon receiving the official notice of his dismissal, saying, “I was confused by this as my job was actually cut during the first round of layoffs while I was on medical leave. I was locked out of my work phone and laptop as of that day and my paychecks stopped.”
Christian Hartsock, another former chief investigative journalist at Project Veritas, who faced termination in August, shared his astonishment at the news of the organization’s ongoing operations.
“I have no idea what ‘operations’ there are to suspend,” he remarked, questioning the utilization of remaining donor funds intended exclusively for journalism production after the extensive dismissal of the production and journalistic leadership staff over a month ago.
Harr articulated his lack of surprise at the organization’s demise, citing recent turbulent events.
“Suspending operations is one of those things that we all knew was coming after the mass layoffs occurred, but still cut like a knife when it officially happened,” he mentioned.
He attributed the organization’s downfall to inadequate funding, managerial ineptitude, and the allegedly detrimental impacts of James O’Keefe, accentuated by Giles’ leadership, which he described as delivering “the final blow.”
Jeffrey Lichtman, representing O’Keefe legally, raised suspicions over the organization’s financial dealings after O’Keefe’s departure, stating: “It appears that in the few months since Project Veritas ousted James, it continued to spend money at the same rate, blowing through the many millions of dollars James had previously raised for it — despite PV having no new sources of fundraising. This is highly suspect and we would welcome a full audit of PV’s finances to learn where that money was actually spent.”
Concluding his thoughts, Harr expressed his disenchantment with the way the organization he dedicated over three years to was mismanaged.
“I was provided no severance pay,” he shared. “The organization used to thrive and prosper. It’s truly sad to see what can happen to great opportunities with a surplus of resources when the wrong people are in power.”
