A landlord has sued Project Veritas — a nonprofit, conservative news organization in Mamaroneck — for future rents.
An affiliate of Halpern Real Estate Ventures, Manhattan, is demanding nearly $150,000 it claims it would have collected during the remaining time on a 5-year lease if Project Veritas had not vacated its offices in December.
But Project Veritas board chairman Joseph J. Barton stated in an email that the organization has fully satisfied its obligations.
“Any such lawsuit filed by Mr. Joel Halpern or his associates for nonpayment of rent would be frivolous in nature,” he said, “and if or when such a suit is filed … it will be dismissed in short time.”
James O’Keefe founded Project Veritas in 2010 with the goal of exposing political corruption. Critics argue that it uses hidden cameras and deceptively edited videos to embarrass liberals.
The rent dispute corresponds roughly with the period last year when O’Keefe was at odds with the board.
He formed O’Keefe Media Group last February with essentially the same mission as Project Veritas. Last May, the board fired him and filed a federal lawsuit accusing him of wasteful practices and misappropriation of trade secrets.
Project Veritas had signed a lease in 2020 for five years ending in October 2025, for offices on Hoyt Avenue, near the Mamaroneck train station.
Eight times last year, according to the complaint, Project Veritas made late rent payments. The landlord served a termination notice on Dec. 21 and the organization abandoned the premises by the end of the month.
The Halpern organization has been unable to find a new tenant, the complaint states, thus losing $6,759 in monthly rent and incurring marketing costs and other expenses associated with re-leasing the property.
The landlord is demanding rent that would have come due in the remaining 22 months of the lease.
Barton shared emails and a draft lease termination agreement that indicate the dispute was being settled for about $30,706. He said Project Veritas has fully satisfied the terms of the deal.
One of Barton’s emails to a Halpern associate also stated that the board had concluded that bankruptcy or receivership is inevitable. But now, he said in a January 25 email, bankruptcy is no longer being considered.
Project Veritas and O’Keefe are also working on a settlement, according to court records in the federal case. They have agreed to let U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause mediate a settlement, and the court has scheduled a settlement conference for March 18.
