A jury on Thursday ruled against Project Veritas in a federal civil case over the methods used by the conservative group in a sting operation targeting a Democratic political consulting firm. Democracy Partners was awarded $120,000 in damages after the jury found that Project Veritas had violated wiretapping laws and fraudulently misrepresented itself. The group and its founder, James O’Keefe, had argued that its operatives were journalists engaged in legitimate news gathering. But the jury found that an operation carried out by a former employee, Allison Maass, “breached a fiduciary duty” after she secured an internship at Democracy Partners under false pretenses. Using secret recordings and other materials, Project Veritas then released videos which Democracy Partners said were designed to embarrass Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump’s election chances.
