‘Journalism Is On Trial’: Project Veritas Ordered To Pay Democratic Consulting Firm Over 2016 Sting Operation

Project Veritas was ordered to pay $120,000 to a Democrat consulting firm this week after a jury found the organization guilty on charges of breaking federal and Washington, D. C., wiretapping laws and fraudulent misrepresentation.

The investigative organization was sued by Democracy Partners, a Democrat consulting group, that had been the target of a sting operation by Project Veritas back in 2016, The New York Times reported. They had accused the group of breaking the law by having an undercover employee receive an internship with the group using a fake identity and making recordings of the firm.

Project Veritas plans on appealing the civil case ruling, and James O’Keefe, the group’s founder, said that the jury’s decision had major implications for journalism in America.

“The jury effectively ruled investigative journalists owe a fiduciary duty to the subjects they are investigating and that investigative journalists may not deceive the subjects they are investigating,” O’Keefe said in a statement following the ruling. “Journalism is on trial, and Project Veritas will continue to fight for every journalist’s right to news gather, investigate, and expose wrongdoing – regardless of how powerful the investigated party may be. Project Veritas will not be intimidated.”

The jury ruled that Allison Maass, who had interned with Democracy Partners as part of Project Veritas’s investigation, had a fiduciary duty to the group that she broke by secretly recording them.... (Read more)

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