James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, has been placed on paid leave and removed from his role in the organization, according to a whistleblower.
The individual, who remains anonymous, claims that two ringleaders, Matt Tyrmand and Barry Hinckley, have taken advantage of the lack of proper corporate structure at Project Veritas to push O’Keefe out.
The decision to remove O’Keefe has been described as a “Stalinesque kangaroo court trial” by the whistleblower.
Recently, Project Veritas scored a big win with its reinstatement on Twitter and viral videos exposing corruption at Pfizer, but the removal of James O’Keefe has sparked speculation about the reasons behind it.
The Daily Beast released an article pointing to disruptions within Project Veritas, blaming them on O’Keefe and his alleged mistreatment of employees.
The claims are based on an internal memo signed by a third of the group’s employees and allege that working for O’Keefe involves “public crucifixions” and mandatory lie-detector tests.
The memo, signed by the employees, details a series of bizarre incidents, including O’Keefe allegedly taking a sandwich from a pregnant woman during a trial and calling Project Veritas staffers derogatory terms.
“I would describe Project Veritas’ current environment with this saying: ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves,’” one staffer wrote.
“James has become a power drunk tyrant,” another staffer complained.
The board of Project Veritas also recently voted to reinstate two executives whom O’Keefe had fired.
The memo’s authors went on to raise concerns about O’Keefe’s use of Project Veritas money to promote his own theatrical ambitions, including a series of musical productions and an elaborate “Project Veritas” experience that involves O’Keefe dancing while wearing a bulletproof vest.
In December, Project Veritas acknowledged improperly giving O’Keefe $20,500 in “excess benefits” to pay for staff to accompany him to a production of the musical Oklahoma!.
The undercover news outlet’s executives decided to place O’Keefe on paid leave.
“James will be taking a few weeks of well-deserved [paid time off],” Project Veritas executive director Daniel Strack wrote in the internal memo on Monday.
Strack added that the board is “constantly evaluating what the best path forward is for the organization.”
