'Dealing with snakes': Project Veritas scrambling to stay afloat as laid-off employees turn on CEO

The fallout for controversial right-wing media organization Project Veritas after the ouster of founder James O'Keefe is accelerating as the company shuts down its headquarters to save money and employees lash out at the new CEO who has only been on the job for three months.

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Kelly Weill, Veritas is struggling to raise cash following the departure of O'Keefe who was accused of mismanagement, with 25 employees laid off last week leaving only 18 who have been told to work from home and replacement CEO Hannah Giles admitting, "Project Veritas is in a tough situation."

The report notes that "In post-layoff conversations with staff, Project Veritas board president Joseph Barton has indicated that the company plans to work remotely and part ways with its Mamaroneck, New York, headquarters," with Barton "hopes to cut costs by outsourcing its production to a third-party firm."

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In an interview CEO Giles told the Beast, "I am streamlining and considering many cost-cutting measures to maintain the long-term sustainability of Project Veritas,” and then adding, "It was made tough by O’Keefe leaving, and made doubly challenging by mismanagement before I was hired. I wish we could have kept everyone on and grown the organization but I’ve been put in the situation where I have to cut and refocus so we can get to growth. I’m not going to fight in the press over complaints from laid off staffers, I’m going to keep doing the work to rebuild this organization from the mess it was left in.”

"Financial concerns have loomed large for Project Veritas under multiple sets of leadership. O’Keefe is accused of spending company funds on dubious personal expenses like chartered cars, helicopter flights, and musical theater productions," the Beast's Weill reported. "Project Veritas is currently suing O’Keefe over this alleged spending, as well as allegations that he used Project Veritas’s donor list to solicit funds for a rival media group after his departure this year.

According to the report, "Laid-off Project Veritas employees previously alleged to The Daily Beast that the company’s pre-layoff operations were frustratingly opaque, with staffers struggling to obtain information from management about the company’s future."

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The report notes that angry staffers have turned their ire on CEO Giles with one ex-employee saying of a group chat that she was a part of "Once the sloppily executed layoffs happened, the chat became a firing squad aimed directly at Hannah."

Former investigative reporter James Lalino wrote, "Thanks for lying to me yesterday and telling me I wasn’t getting laid off. Awesome working with you. Thanks for giving it to me straight when I asked, you taught me a valuable lesson about dealing with snakes.”

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