Right-wing activist James O'Keefe spent donor money on DJ equipment and hoped to play Coachella, former staffers say

• Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe used donor money on DJ equipment, two former staffers said.
• He spent $2,500 on the items and hoped to play Coachella, the staffers told the Washington Post.
• The spending was detailed in a Project Veritas audit done after O'Keefe was ousted from the group.

James O'Keefe built a career in right-wing politics through a string of deceptively edited videos intended to make liberals look bad. But while the founder of Project Veritas was a star in conservative circles, he wanted to be something more, two former staffers told the Washington Post: He wanted to be cool.

According to a draft audit the Post obtained conducted for Project Veritas, O'Keefe — who was ousted from the group earlier this year over allegations of exorbitant spending on personal indulgences — used donor funds to purchase some $2,500 worth of "DJ equipment."

The 39-year-old "dreamed of playing a set at Coachella," the Post reported, citing a pair of former employees who said O'Keefe "was irritated when his staff couldn't get him booked at the legendary California music festival."

O'Keefe did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent to his new media organization, founded in the wake of his messy exit from Project Veritas.

The spending on DJ gear pales in comparison to what the Post reported O'Keefe dropped on luxury transportation. The Project Veritas audit the newspaper obtained purports that the group's former leader spent $208,000 in three years on "black-car travel".

In February, Project Veritas announced that it was investigating alleged "financial malfeasance" involving O'Keefe, saying he had "spent an excessive amount of donor funds in the last three years on personal luxuries."

O'Keefe's ouster came after a federal jury last year determined that the group — which promoted numerous false claims of fraud in the 2020 election — had misleadingly edited internal conversations at a liberal activist group to falsely imply, in publicly released videos, that Democrats were encouraging illegal voting.

There is also an ongoing investigation into the theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley; last year, two Florida residents pleaded guilty to stealing the diary and selling it to Project Veritas for $40,000. Project Veritas, which did not publish the diary, has denied any wrongdoing.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: [email protected]