Corruption, Conflicts of Interest: Federal Testimony Reveals Project Veritas Board Members Who Fired O’Keefe Were Co-investing in Medical Companies That ‘Could Be Sold to Pfizer’
The Truth Inside Veritas
January 2023 – Project Veritas unveiled its biggest story to date: an undercover exposé of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. A week later, the organization booted founder and Chief Executive Officer James O’Keefe.
Unbeknownst to O’Keefe, his reporting on the drug company appeared to threaten hidden financial interests of several Veritas board members, which court proceedings later exposed.
George Skakel, a Project Veritas board member who voted to temporarily suspend O’Keefe, testified in a deposition in November 2024 as part of a civil lawsuit.
“Petrogen could be sold to a big pharma, like Pfizer,” George Skakel admitted under oath.
According to his deposition, Skakel was actively investing in four private companies: Petrogen, CathAid, Black Buffalo and Forever Labs. Fellow board member Matthew Tyrmand had been raising money for all of them. “I have frequent conversations with Matt because I’m an investor in four companies that he has been raising money for,” Skakel admitted. When asked if these investments occurred while he served on the Veritas board, Skakel confirmed, “Yes, I think I was on the board then.”
These ties appear to breach Project Veritas’ Conflicts of Interest Policy, which board members George Skakel and Matthew Tyrmand signed.
Skakel also acknowledged that he never disclosed these financial ties to O’Keefe, saying, “I didn’t go out of my way. I didn’t feel it was my obligation to disclose. It was a private business transaction between two individuals.” He disputed transparency concerns, stating, “James is not a business guy. There would be no reason for me to talk to him.”
After reviewing Skakel’s deposition, O’Keefe confronted Skakel in April 2025 and questioned him about the co-investments. Skakel contradicted his prior sworn testimony, saying, “I wasn’t an investor in the companies while I was on your board.”
Board member Matthew Tyrmand not only sought investments but also served as a formal advisor to CathAid, alongside Dr. Rick Richards, who became CathAid’s CEO after Tyrmand solicited donations from him. The media outlet, The Manhattan, described CathAid as “Chinese-affiliated” and linked to “child surveillance.” Board members of Project Veritas put pressure on the outlet to have the article removed from its website.
The Veritas board members appear to have concealed their shared business interests while orchestrating the founder’s ousting. The board publicly framed O’Keefe’s expulsion from Project Veritas as a response to workplace concerns and leadership style.
Testimony
In his deposition, Skakel was asked directly when his view of James O’Keefe changed. He was asked by an attorney, “When did you switch from not wanting to cause harm to James to wanting to harm James?” Skakel answered under oath, “After James claimed he was fired and kicked out of his organization, which he wasn’t.”
However, minutes from a February 10th, 2023, Project Veritas board meeting contradict Skakel’s claim. They show that a motion for the “indefinite suspension of Mr. O’Keefe as CEO without compensation pending the results of the two-dimensional audit” passed by a 3-2 vote.
On May 2nd, 2023, O’Keefe appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show and described his termination from Project Veritas as the “hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life. It was painful.” He added, “It was so disillusioning and discouraging.”
Host Megyn Kelly asked, “How does the company go on without the man who built it?”
Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hannah Giles, known for her role as the undercover “sex-worker” in the 2009 ACORN sting that helped launch Project Veritas, told POLITICO: “Sometimes… companies and organizations outgrow their founders.”
Riding High and Cut Down
On January 26, 2023, Tucker Carlson reported on Fox News: “Consider the news that did not break today. The pro-transparency news organization, Project Veritas, just released an undercover video of a Pfizer executive.” In the video, Pfizer director Jordan Walker discussed the company’s use of “directed evolution” to make COVID-19 vaccines, alleging Pfizer conducted “gain-of-function” experiments.
O’Keefe later recalled, “The Pfizer story was the biggest story we ever did. It was viewed hundreds of millions of times.” He referenced the now-iconic video of his Veritas team rejoicing, saying, “That was us celebrating after we got that Jordan Walker score at Pfizer.”
“One week later, my board turned on me,” O’Keefe said. “A week later, everything changed.”
Financial Tensions
O’Keefe explained, “Veritas needed to raise $24 million a year just to exist. That’s payroll, $5 million for legal, travel costs for all the undercover journalists.” He continued, “We were spending a lot of money, rightfully so.”
Project Veritas Press Secretary R.C. Maxwell said, “The donor department was not performing well, and that was a catalyst for a lot of the personalities in the donor department hating James.”
O’Keefe highlighted Chief Strategy Officer Barry Hinckley’s underperformance as a fundraiser. O’Keefe said. “Barry Hinckley managed to convince his colleagues there’s a different way to go about this than ‘James O’Keefe is raising money.’”
O’Keefe noted Hinckley wanted to “take it easy.” He added, “Of course, where’s the $2 million a month going to come from?”
During the February 6th, 2023 Veritas board meeting, Hinckley admitted that he told O’Keefe, “I can’t follow your lead.”
O’Keefe said the conflict hit a critical point on February 2nd, 2023. “There was a blow up because they were telling me in front of the team, ‘I will not do that,’” O’Keefe said. “So I told him, ‘Okay, you’re fired.'”
Emergency Meeting
Later that day, as O’Keefe was boarding a flight, he received an email from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Tom O’Hara about an emergency meeting. It read, “We’re going to dissolve one of our nonprofits” and mentioned how the board would proceed with the “termination of employees.” O’Keefe explained that this actually meant getting rid of the CEO, himself.
As the plane took off, O’Keefe made a frantic call to O’Hara and asked, “What are we going to tell our supporters if I’m removed from my position?” O’Hara’s response jarred him.
O’Keefe recalls the CFO telling him, “Our supporters wouldn’t have to find out,” and claims that O’Hara explicitly said, “Veritas would be better without you as CEO.”
Immediately following the call with O’Hara, O’Keefe dismissed him as CFO.
The emergency meeting took place on February 6th, 2023. The board claimed O’Keefe wrongfully terminated Tom O’Hara, asserting this amounted to financial misconduct.
A draft document prepared by the Project Veritas board stated, “The unilateral termination of the CFO is a violation of our bylaws.” However, an internal document shows that former Project Veritas compliance attorney Stefan Passantino refuted this claim in a back-and-forth with board member Matthew Tyrmand, writing, “This is technically untrue. The board arguably ceded him [O’Keefe] this power and then took it back.” When contacted by O’Keefe Media Group with a screenshot of the correspondence, Passantino declined further comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
A Veritas Undercover Journalist questioned Chief Operating Officer Dan Strack about O’Hara’s firing and recorded his comments.
“I don’t think people understand how big of a deal that is, particularly firing Tom with no authority,” Strack said. “Like, that’s a big deal. Like what should happen in any other organization is he would immediately be removed from the board.” Passantino directly contradicted Strack’s claim in written correspondence with board member Matthew Tyrmand. “This is technically untrue,” Passantino stated. “The board arguably ceded [O’Keefe] this power and then took it back.”
When contacted for comment this week, and presented with Passantino’s legal assessment, Strack walked back his earlier position. “It was my understanding that a board, the executives were appointed by the board and the board would need to opine on letting them go,” he said. “If Stefan said something to the contrary or the bylaws were the contrary, which I certainly didn’t have memorized at the time, then perhaps I was mistaken.”
Strack continued by referencing general nonprofit governance experience: “In my past experience with 501(c)(3)s that have large boards, if it was a board-appointed position, the board would have to opine on removing that person.” He added, “Now, if the bylaws at Project Veritas were different, I certainly didn’t have the bylaws memorized at that time.”
Despite the uncertainty around the bylaws, Strack stood by his criticism of O’Keefe’s actions: “I stand by my comment to say the way you did it and the way you fired the CFO for essentially questioning your expenditures was completely uncalled for and not okay..”
Grievance Parade
The meeting on February 6th continued, and O’Keefe faced a group of disgruntled colleagues who voiced grievances and presented him with a letter that collected their complaints.
“Employee after employee went in,” recalled Veritas Press Secretary R.C. Maxwell, who attended the meeting remotely. Maxwell wanted to defend O’Keefe. “I expressed an interest in speaking,” he said. “Only those with negative things to say were allowed to speak.”
O’Keefe described the meeting. “I was subject to a six-and-a-half-hour listing of grievances. This was all designed.”
Among those who criticized the embattled CEO was journalist Arden Young, who alleged that O’Keefe made a donor cry because he refused to take a photo with her. Young presented a written complaint that claimed, “The wife [Dianna Remmers] asked James for a photo, and he very rudely and publicly turned her down. She was humiliated to the point of tears.”
Later, Dianna Remmers posted on X the allegation was “completely false.” Wally Remmers, her spouse, also said, “My wife wasn’t brought to tears by James over a request for a picture, and he didn’t rudely and publicly turn her down. These statements by Arden are fabricated.”
Dianna Remmers, when reached for comment, said, “He never made me cry. I gave him a $20,000 check. James felt bad and has been nice ever since. He’s taken 50 photos with me.”
Days after the meeting, Young apologized to the entire Project Veritas team in an internal email which is featured in The Truth Inside Veritas, stating, “I wanted to take the time to formally apologize for any role I played in bringing harm to the company.”
When Young was contacted for comment regarding her conflicting statements, as well as the Remmers’ comments, she declined to comment further.
As the emergency board meeting unfolded, O’Keefe faced a barrage of criticism from his colleagues. Barry Hinckley was the first to voice frustration over what he perceived as excessive spending, citing O’Keefe’s use of a helicopter to travel to Maine for a donor meeting.
In episode one of the Truth Inside Veritas, Barry Hinckley stated, “I ran a large company with a lot of employees, and I never lived this lifestyle of black cars running at $250 constantly picking me up and moving me around.” Hinckley added, “Very expensive accommodations when the rest of the staff was staying at one level—one for all and all for one—especially at a nonprofit. One person living one way and another person living another way.”
However, the donor in question, John Traynor, dismissed the criticism. When asked about the trip, he stated, “I don’t see anything wrong with taking the helicopter at all. I’ve owned two helicopters.”
In “The Revolutionaries” chat, Project Veritas Associate In-House Counsel Julia Witt made a claim that, “James O’Keefe took the eight-month-pregnant lady’s sandwich,” which she also documented in the compilation of written complaints presented against O’Keefe in the board meeting.
The former pregnant woman was an undercover reporter for Project Veritas, and a co-defendant at a Civil Trial alongside O’Keefe. When contacted for comment, she refuted the claims by Witt, stating, “I always got my own food, so I don’t even know. I took responsibility for getting my own food. I don’t know why anybody else would be grabbing me a sandwich.”
When presented with the fact that the ‘pregnant sandwich theft victim’ had denied the incident, Witt said O’Keefe fostered a “toxic work environment.” When pressed again about the sandwich theft allegation, Witt did not address the sandwich theft allegation, and instead replied, “My comment is as above.”
The meeting stretched into the night as grievances piled up. Director of Development Bethany Ronaldo is recorded in the boardroom pointing to escalating legal costs associated with Project Veritas’ journalism and cited what she believed was donor discomfort with ambush journalism.
“But also in terms of his behavior in his videos, especially as of late, making remarks to me about how his ego, arrogance, immaturity,” Ronaldo said, recounting the video in which O’Keefe confronted Twitter employee Alex Martinez in New York City and followed him down the street.
“An example would be from like the recent FBI videos of Goldman calling him a ‘punk,’ telling him to look him in the face, in the coffee cam, and the Twitter employee that we literally chased around New York City,” she said, referring to confrontational tactics used in undercover footage published by Project Veritas.
In that video, Twitter executive Alex Martinez was recorded mocking Elon Musk’s Asperger’s diagnosis. The video gained significant attention, and footage of staffers celebrating after Musk responded appears in The Truth Inside Veritas.
A donor who viewed the Martinez video at an event pledged $250,000 immediately. OMG contacted Ronaldo for a response to her statements in the board meeting, noting the video’s broadly positive reception. Ronaldo did not reply.
Michael Villani, who worked in the production department attributed the necessity for O’Keefe’s ousting to having made poor hiring decisions, claiming, “The problem is, historically we’ve had bad hires like [Nick] Givas, causing a disaster.”
OMG contacted Givas, regarding Villani’s assertion that he was a ‘bad hire,’ to which Givas stated: “James and I always agreed that we worked very well together. Whether it be undertaking major writing projects, media interviews, traveling on the road, or exposing corruption, we fought for truth in the trenches. Eventually, we parted ways amicably and still speak to one another today. It’s a shame what’s become of this once great news organization.”
Just days after the meeting, Villani sent a message to O’Keefe, contradicting his original sentiments. Villani wrote, “I hate that everything is happening the way it is. You know I love you like family – I have since I started working for you. We’ve been through a lot together – and I never wanted something like this to happen… I understand if you would never forgive me.”
Then, on August 29th, 2024, Villani took to X to ridicule O’Keefe, publicly stating, “Yo James is boring now. Can’t believe ANYBODY is talking on this thread about info that he had NOTHING TO DO WITH… who the fuck cares about @JamesOKeefeIII. A boring person he has become.”
OMG reached out to Villani for comment regarding his contrasting statements, as well as Givas’ response to his critical claims. Villani failed to respond.
COO Losing His Grip
Veritas undercover journalist Bradley Borowski questioned Chief Operating Officer Dan Strack about the employees’ grievance letter, and recorded his comments. Borowski asked if it was ethical for the board to collect signatures from staff behind the COO’s back and Strack admitted, “It’s odd.”
When questioned why he did not have control over the actions of his employees, as the COO, Strack distanced himself claiming, “The board was doing it. I really wasn’t in control of it. I wasn’t really aware that there was a letter being formed.”
Yet internal communications, including a message from Joshua Hughes suggest otherwise. Hughes stated in “The Revolutionaries” chat, “Spoke to Dan and Matt at length today. They want a letter so I’m going to pen it right now.”
When presented with this evidence of the Chief Technology Officer claiming that Dan wanted the letter written, Strack denied any role in initiating the campaign. “I didn’t know about the letter per se,” he said. “I certainly didn’t ask anybody to put together a letter. I saw that letter for the very first time on Tim Pool’s website, quite frankly.”
Apology Letter
O’Keefe drafted an apology letter, which he submitted to the board ahead of the meeting, addressing a prior exchange in a staff meeting on January 31st, 2023, in which he told Hinckley and Tom O’Hara if they refused to follow his direction on fundraising approaches, they would be shown the door. O’Keefe claims he felt sorry that he said this in front of other employees, admitting he should have stated this privately to them.
The board felt the apology was “insufficient.” Skakel later paraphrased O’Keefe’s letter dismissively, saying, “I’m sorry I did a bad thing. Now let’s move on.” He criticized O’Keefe’s tone, adding, “He didn’t seem to have any empathy.”
No formal Human Resources process or impartial evaluation of the claims against O’Keefe took place. The board voted to reinstate CSO Barry Hinckley and CFO Tom O’Hara, and imposed restrictions on O’Keefe. The board declared, “The CEO’s hiring and firing privileges are revoked for 180 days. The CEO is placed on leave for two weeks. The CEO’s access to donors is restricted.”
In The Truth Inside Veritas, O’Keefe confronted board member John Garvey about his vote to indefinitely suspend O’Keefe without pay. Garvey replied, “I didn’t fire you, James. I think it’s most tragic that you chose to destroy your own creation.’ It is generally recognized that an indefinite suspension without pay is considered ‘constructive termination.’ O’Keefe says to Garvey, in the episode, “Indentured servitude is illegal in New York state.” A federal Judge ruled against Project Veritas in their attempt to get an injunction against O’Keefe Media Group in July of 2024.
O’Keefe summarized his situation with frustration, stating, “So, I can’t talk to donors, I can’t raise money… What are you guys [Project Veritas] going to do?”
Lighting the Fuse
Federal testimony showed Veritas board member Joseph Barton cast a key vote to remove O’Keefe. Skakel stated that Barton and fellow board member Matthew Tyrmand were “emotionally invested” in the expulsion and rallied the majority to pass the resolution. “Just do the math,” Skakel said. “If two of us are against it, and it’s a five-man board, that means three of us are for it.”
This decision to post a board statement about James O’Keefe ignored warnings from then-COO Dan Strack. Dan Strack was recorded saying to an undercover journalist that if the board were to release its intended statement about O’Keefe, “It’s fucking over [for Project Veritas]”
Public Smears
O’Keefe recalled asking George Skakel at his house a day before the February 6th board meeting, “’Who’s putting this bug in your ear?'”
O’Keefe recollects Skakels reply: “’Matt Tyrmand. He’s very persuasive.’”
Skakel testified in his deposition, “Matt’s very smart. He’s a very high IQ guy. But he’s also persuasive.”
Previously, Tyrmand praised O’Keefe’s leadership principles. “James is a true servant leader,” Tyrmand said, “and truly follows the old adage: Don’t have your employees and soldiers do what you wouldn’t do yourself.”
On the contrary, during the Veritas coup, Tyrmand unleashed a series of vulgar attacks on social media targeting O’Keefe. In one tweet, he mocked O’Keefe, writing: “Oh boy… glad I wasn’t drinking something when I read this doozy of a whopper. Wish there was an emoticon for narcissism. And sociopathy. And Aspergers. And benzos. And (poorly executed) show tunes.”
In another message, Tyrmand said, “I’ve known many thousands of people… never come across a bigger liar… narcissistic sociopathic liar the likes of which none of us have ever seen. If his lips are moving… he’s lying.”
Joseph Barton took issue with Tyrmand’s statement about “decapitating” James O’Keefe and “carving out his heart and eating it in front of him.” This was voiced in front of the staff during a May, 2023 board meeting. A video recording of that meeting exists and Matthew Tyrmand requested it be deleted.
During his deposition, Skakel said of Matt Tyrmand, “He’s a little bit unhinged. I told him he’s crazy.” He continued, “I think it’s unhealthy to let oneself be consumed by hate. It’s just hating hurts the hater, not the hated.”
Matthew Tyrmand is a trustee of the Philadelphia Society, a respected conservative group that promotes intellectual debate. When contacted for comment about obscene and pornographic social media posts Tyrmand made targeting O’Keefe, the Philadelphia Society offered no response. However, a leaked email chain revealed a comment by Philadelphia Society board member Edith Jones, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In response to the inquiry showing Tyrmand’s lewd posts directed at O’Keefe, Jones’ email reads: “Doesn’t this call for a prompt response? I’m just a new board member, but I’d hate to see the reputation of the Society, built up over decades, sullied, or worse, by this problem.”
The Revolutionaries
After O’Keefe’s removal, Veritas video editor Jake Mantel sent him a supportive message: “I hope this isn’t too late, but I wanted to seriously say I’m sorry that everything escalated so quickly to where it is right now… If it means anything, I truly do want you to stay with us so we can all work this out together.” Months later, Mantel’s tone soured. He sent O’Keefe a message calling him a homophobic slur.
While at Project Veritas, Mantel mocked O’Keefe in a staff-wide group chat named “The Revolutionaries,” created on February 3, 2023. The group became a hub for venting frustrations, rallying support for internal dissent, and laying the groundwork to undermine O’Keefe’s authority. Mantel wrote, “I think James has become drunk on power and acted like a tyrant while becoming what he should be exposing.”
O’Keefe attempted to contact Mantel for comment regarding his statements. Mantel refused to respond.
Some members of “The Revolutionaries” demanded swift action against O’Keefe. Others, like producer Kalen Erickson, urged restraint. Erickson feared a staff-led protest could harm colleagues and destabilize the organization. “The place still needs to operate,” he wrote. He called a proposed work stoppage unfair, saying, “That’s very communist to me.”
O’Keefe reached out to Erickson for clarification on his comments in “The Revolutionaries” chat. Erickson responded, “You can literally read the texts.”
As the campaign against O’Keefe escalated, he faced a breach of his personal communications. In his federal deposition, board member Joseph Barton admitted he accessed O’Keefe’s contact list through a hard drive provided by IT, which Barton then used to reach out to O’Keefe’s ex-girlfriends.
Barton testified under oath he re-shared private text messages between O’Keefe and his ex-girlfriend, obtained from O’Keefe’s telegram, “more than once.”
One of the claims in O’Keefe’s countersuit against Project Veritas is “Publication of Private Facts.” This legal doctrine allows individuals to seek redress when their privacy is violated by the public disclosure of personal information. O’Keefe argued that Project Veritas exposed private details about his relationships, causing reputational harm without serving any legitimate public interest.
In his deposition, Barton justified disclosing O’Keefe’s private information by referencing comments O’Keefe made on The Megyn Kelly Show. He cited O’Keefe’s May 2nd, 2023, appearance, during which O’Keefe said, “I’m fine with anything I’ve ever posted or sent to anyone being aired. Want to do that? Go ahead. But if that’s the world you want, let’s expose the people in government now and air their dirty laundry.”
Barton stated, “I do recall that there was a point where your client [O’Keefe] told Megyn Kelly that his life is an open book,” adding, “I don’t know that your client even has a private life.”
OMG sought Barton’s response regarding his role in obtaining O’Keefe’s personal contacts and sharing his private communications. Barton initially hung up but later responded via email, stating, “I was not involved in the acquisition or dissemination of his ‘private’ messages or communications.”
Barton added, “My comments in the deposition referring to his open book declaration with Megyn Kelly merely affirm that James himself was perfectly fine not having a private life or effectively per his Megyn Kelly interview.”
He continued, “Is that still the case, or is he continuing to mislead his audience and pursue his personal vendettas?”
Explicit Texts and Images
In the weeks following Project Veritas’ collapse, Angelo Martinez, an IT staffer who worked under Joshua Hughes, sent James O’Keefe a series of hostile messages. In one, Martinez accused O’Keefe of straying from the organization’s original mission, writing, “When did the mission change from exposing waste, corruption and abuse, to paying for every lawsuit you’re in? You’re f**ing pathetic.”
The messages escalated to harassment when Martinez texted, “Promise you ever see me on the street, it’s on sight.” He called O’Keefe a “bitch” and a “grifter.”
Martinez’s conduct extended beyond personal attacks. Leveraging his position in the IT department, he posted publicly about internal matters and personal details involving former Veritas Press Secretary R.C. Maxwell and his wife. In a now-deleted Instagram comment, Martinez made references to the Maxwells’ private communications and medical information, claiming, “IT has all the receipts.” The full contents of the message are published in The Truth Inside Veritas.
When contacted for comment, Martinez neglected to address the explicit messages directed at O’Keefe. Regarding the posts about Maxwell, he stated, “I never gave any of that information away. I never had access to any of R.C.’s information. That’s all I’m going to speak on the topic.”
O’Keefe also faced vulgar attacks from other employees. In September 2023, communications staffer Jonathan Bailey texted O’Keefe graphic sexual images featuring O’Keefe’s face superimposed on nude figures. Bailey captioned them with sexual remarks, including, “Yo, is it really that good?”
Later, Bailey apologized, writing, “I want to apologize for the memes. I realize it’s probably not funny to you at all. So I’m sorry for sending them.”
Then, Bailey reversed course. He messaged, “Sorry about that letter. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve avoided it like the plague.” He added, “You hiring?”
In April 2025, Bailey applied for a position at O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), O’Keefe’s new company. In correspondence with an OMG employee, he wrote, “I was the only letter signer who warned him [O’Keefe] ahead of time and spoke favorably of him at the infamous Feb. 6 board meeting.”
Producer Bobby Harr also sent O’Keefe sexually explicit images and texts. O’Keefe said, “Bobby Harr later sent me a text message of me eating a sandwich covered in semen. He said, ‘Cry harder, James. They’re f*cking memes.'”
O’Keefe reached out to Harr about his sexually charged messages sent under the alias “Lithium.” Harr confirmed, “That definitely came from me.” When pressed further, Harr stated, “I have no interest in aiding your story, so my only comment is that I think that’s a hilarious meme that clearly got under your skin.”
“That’s sexual harassment,” O’Keefe said. “These are the types of people who work at Project Veritas.”
Former Veritas Press Secretary R.C. Maxwell reflected on his former colleagues, saying, “These are people I deeply respected. I’ve attended work retreats with them and met their wives. We believed they were individuals of integrity.”
Financial Strangulation
George Skakel testified that O’Keefe “owed us compensation for the harm he’s done to Project Veritas.” When asked to specify the amount, he simply replied, “A lot.” Skakel then appeared to offer a figure flippantly, stating under oath, “$785,000.23.” When questioned about how he arrived at that number, he responded facetiously, “With a very, very complicated algorithm I cannot reveal because it’s confidential.”
After O’Keefe’s removal, Skakel deliberately tried to block O’Keefe from regaining his base of support. In his deposition, Skakel admitted he publicly urged donors not to back O’Keefe’s future ventures, saying, “I’m trying to get them to give us money, not O’Keefe.” He added, “The money they don’t give to O’Keefe might come to us at Project Veritas.”
Skakel admitted O’Keefe’s exit financially destabilized Project Veritas. When asked about donor activity afterward, he said, “It fell off dramatically.”
Allegations Collapse
During his deposition, board member George Skakel faced a direct question about witnessing O’Keefe’s “toxic behavior” firsthand. He admitted, “I did not.”
Skakel testified that fellow board member Matthew Tyrmand advocated for O’Keefe’s removal and gathered employee complaints before the emergency meeting. When asked if he knew Tyrmand was behind the process, Skakel replied, “It’s not surprising.”
The board member admitted he saw no evidence of regulatory or legal violations by O’Keefe at Project Veritas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. When asked if any board member had cited a specific 501(c)(3) rule O’Keefe had broken, Skakel replied candidly, “No.”
Skakel’s testimony weakened claims of O’Keefe’s lavish spending. He said, “I never believed any of that stuff was specifically illegal. I thought it might have been poor judgment, but not illegal.”
While deposed, Skakel faced questions about whether O’Keefe’s actions violated any written policy. He responded, “I have no idea.” When asked if it was documented anywhere, Skakel said, “I don’t know.” As his deposition continued, Skakel grew evasive and dodged one query, saying, “I’m going to lose my memory.”
Project Veritas Implodes
At the pivotal Feb. 6 meeting that led to his firing, O’Keefe asked about the board’s pending course of action: “My question is, what is the plan if you implement this solution?”
Matt Tyrmand responded with the sentiment that Project Veritas would be fine without him. “Project Veritas is an organization with 65 incredibly talented individuals capable of doing journalism. We don’t believe there will be any lost output on the margins,” Trymand stated.
O’Keefe’s indefinite suspension without pay triggered an immediate reaction from supporters. “Thousands of people want their money back,” he stated, describing the backlash from donors. The board’s decision came less than a month after Project Veritas’ biggest story—and it quickly led to the organization’s collapse. With no clear leadership, staffers began to abandon ship, leaving the group in disarray.
Reflecting on the upheaval, O’Keefe spoke with a sense of betrayal and anguish: “You didn’t bleed, sweat, and cry the way I did for 14 years. Yet you come into my institution and have the gall to tell me you’re not the bad guy?”
Even some board members later acknowledged the fallout. “It was a mistake,” Skakel admitted in hindsight about how events were handled. “I think it was a mistake.”
O’Keefe’s story is one of a dramatic fall from power—marked by internal sabotage, personal betrayal, and public attacks. Conspirators from within the organization turned against him, while former allies looked the other way or participated in efforts to discredit him. Though some appear to have been driven by financial motives, deeper questions remain about the bizarre and at times sinister conduct of those who once stood beside the founder.
According to O’Keefe, this is just the beginning and he intends to answer all remaining questions. He says this is “Part 1,” with more revelations and depositions expected soon.
