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The conservative nonprofit Project Veritas is known for its gotcha videos, allegedly exposing liberals of bias and hypocrisy.

But the group’s founder, James O’Keefe, has found himself in the crosshairs of an internal audit for allegedly using Project Veritas money to, among other things, fund trips to California under the pretext of meeting with low-level donors, the Washington Post reported.

O’Keefe used the meetings to justify going to California to visit Alexandra Rose, a real estate agent who has been featured in the Netflix series, “Selling the OC.” O’Keefe also allegedly spent significant amounts of Project Veritas funds on top-shelf tequila for Rose, the outlet reported.

Rose is one of the three “Alexandras” (the other two are Alexandra Jarvis and Alexandra Hall) on the show, which focuses on the Oppenheim Group real estate brokerage and its agents’ personal and professional lives in Orange County, California.

The cited expenditures on Rose related are just several examples of O’Keefe allegedly misspending donor money for personal use, including $12,000 for a helicopter flight from New York to Maine for a sailing trip; over $200,000 on black-car travel over two years; and $2,500 for DJ equipment in hopes that he would secure a gig at Coachella. (Other alleged malfeasance cited in the audit include O’Keefe evacuating himself first from a Hurricane so he could make a performance of “Oklahoma!” in which he was a lead, and telling a woman who just had a miscarriage to report back to work.)

The audit, conducted by Dorsey and Whitney, raises questions over whether O’Keefe complied with nonprofit spending regulations.

Hannah Giles, the current CEO of Project Veritas, likened O’Keefe’s spending habits to those of a wealthy television character, noting that such behavior was unacceptable when funded by donors, including Social Security recipients.

Project Veritas, which gained recognition for exposing bias and wrongdoing in various sectors, including media and liberal advocacy, faces significant challenges. The organization recently laid off 25 of its 40 staff members, citing concerns that the audit’s public release could trigger IRS scrutiny or even a shutdown.

Additionally, Project Veritas faced legal issues, such as two individuals pleading guilty in connection with the theft of Ashley Biden’s diary, which had ended up in Project Veritas’ possession during the 2020 campaign. While O’Keefe’s departure marked the end of an era for the organization, it also resulted in legal disputes, including a lawsuit against him by Project Veritas.

The audit report also highlighted O’Keefe’s “volatile” workplace behavior, which included subjecting an employee to a two-hour polygraph test and making inappropriate comments to female employees regarding pregnancy and miscarriage.

Despite the turmoil within the organization, there have been discussions about O’Keefe potentially rejoining Project Veritas in the future, as suggested by CEO Hannah Giles. 

“I don’t know that I could work for him, but I could work with him,” Giles told a Project Veritas employee, in a recording shared with The Post. 

—  Ted Glanzer

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A New Jersey real estate investor pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a $1 million mortgage scheme.

Cabral Simpson, a 46-year-old resident of Orange, New Jersey, admitted to collaborating with co-conspirators in fabricating bank statements and fake employee verification records for prospective property buyers, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.

They also transferred funds into the buyers’ bank accounts as deposits for property purchases.

Furthermore, Simpson and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent mortgage loan applications, along with forged supporting documents and closing paperwork on behalf of these buyers, inducing lenders to issue more than $1 million in loans, which subsequently led to defaults. 

The defaults exposed both the lenders and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to losses exceeding $1 million.

Conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine, which can be either $250,000, twice the gross profits derived from the scheme, or twice the gross loss suffered by the victims.

Simpson’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2024.

Simpson isn’t the only real estate-related person to have a brush with the New Jersey District of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Contractor Joel Konopka, 45, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was charged last month with four counts of corporate tax evasion, two counts of filing false corporate tax returns, and two counts of failing to file corporate tax returns, according to a U.S. Department of Justice.

Konopka was the owner and sole shareholder of Konopka Construction, a company providing construction, contracting, and snow plowing services in northern New Jersey from 2014 to 2017.

According to court documents, Konopka allegedly failed to file truthful and accurate corporate tax returns for his company during that period, despite earning over $3.3 million in business income between 2014 and 2017, including more than $1 million in 2016.

Konopka did not report this income accurately. Instead, he filed corporate tax returns for 2014 and 2015 that reported no income for his company, and he failed to file any corporate tax returns for 2016 and 2017. Additionally, Konopka is accused of not making any payments to the IRS for corporate taxes during these years. 

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