The undercover video operation run by right-wing operative James O’Keefe is in turmoil, wracked by unhappy donors and O’Keefe’s “outright cruel” behavior towards his staff, according to an internal memo signed by a third of its employees.

Working for O’Keefe at Project Veritas can mean being “publicly humiliated” by him in what amounts to “public crucifixions,” and even being required to take lie detector tests, his unhappy employees write in the memo.

“I would describe Project Veritas’ current environment with this saying: ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves,’” one disgruntled staffer wrote in the memo.

On Monday, Project Veritas staffers presented the nonprofit’s board with the document covering his behavior, saying they were “troubled and frustrated” by O’Keefe’s management style. Later that day, the board voted to reinstate two executives O’Keefe had fired a week earlier, while O’Keefe went on paid leave.

“James will be taking a few weeks of well-deserved [paid time off],” Project Veritas executive director Daniel Strack wrote Monday in an internal Project Veritas group chat obtained by The Daily Beast.

Even though O’Keefe is synonymous with the group he founded, his fate at the nonprofit remains unclear. New York Magazine first reported on the internal dissension and O’Keefe’s leave.

O’Keefe didn’t respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Strack told The Daily Beast the board is “constantly evaluating what the best path forward is for the organization.”

The internal dissension comes as Project Veritas faces a number of threats, including an FBI investigation and an ex-employee’s lawsuit alleging O’Keefe oversaw a raucous, sexually charged workplace complete with at least one drug overdose. Project Veritas has denied breaking any laws in the FBI investigation, and is fighting the lawsuit. In December, the group laid off several staffers.

The memo, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, covers its founder’s demanding and allegedly abusive treatment of his staff, even laying out concerns that Project Veritas will soon collapse entirely as donors and employees flee. Sixteen staffers signed their names to the memo, according to the document.

“James has become a power drunk tyrant,” one staffer complained in the memo.

While employees signed their names to the memo, they didn’t reveal who wrote individual accounts, and The Daily Beast was not able to independently confirm the anecdotes. Still, they offer a glimpse into the internal debate within Project Veritas before O’Keefe went on leave and saw his decisions reversed by the board.

The memo details a series of bizarre incidents. In one, during a Sept. 2022 trial against a Democratic consulting firm that O’Keefe later lost, an employee complained that O’Keefe berated them in front of jurors because he needed something to eat. Ultimately, the employee alleged, O’Keefe took a sandwich from a heavily pregnant woman to sate his hunger.

“I was yelled at in front of jurors because he was hungry and then he took the 8-month pregnant woman’s sandwich,” the account reads.

In another apparent reference to O’Keefe, a staffer complains about employees at Project Veritas getting spat upon.

“Rule #1: You can’t spit in an employee's face over a tweet,” the message reads. “True story.”

The memo’s authors describe O’Keefe as a paranoiac so fearful of leakers within his organization that he set up at least one “mole hunt” complete with private investigators and a lie detector test. Most staffers were purportedly required to return to the group’s New York headquarters for an interview with the investigators.

In another incident, a top O’Keefe lieutenant was required to take a polygraph as part of a leak investigation.

“If you can’t trust your own team let alone your own team leaders, what kind of trust do you claim to have?” one employee complained in the memo, describing the lie-detector test.

The employees also complained more broadly about O’Keefe’s allegedly widespread use of “verbal abuse,” claiming they could be “publicly humiliated” or face “public crucifixions” at O’Keefe’s hands in front of donors or other employees. Throughout the memo, O’Keefe is described as “berating” various employees so strongly that people who witnessed the alleged abuse apologized to O’Keefe’s targets later.

In one instance, the employees claim O’Keefe called Project Veritas staffer Spencer Meads — a staffer so prominent in the group that the FBI raided his home — a “pussy.”

“They were raided and James still called Spencer that name,” the memo reads.

In another anecdote, staffers were “so severely verbally attacked by James that the staff morale dropped to an all-time low.”

The memo’s authors also raised concerns about O’Keefe’s use of Project Veritas money to promote his own theatrical ambitions. Project Veritas is best known for its undercover stings against Democratic groups and other Republican targets. But O’Keefe, who performed in high-school musicals, has added a series of musical productions to the group’s repertoire, including an elaborate “Project Veritas” experience that involves O’Keefe dancing while wearing a bulletproof vest.

In December, Project Veritas acknowledged improperly giving O’Keefe $20,500 in “excess benefits” to pay for Project Veritas staff to accompany him to Virginia as he performed a lead role in a production of the musical Oklahoma!.

In the memo, one employee worried that all of the money spent on musicals risked alienating donors.

“All the theatre stuff and how that is handled makes me very uneasy,” the memo reads, adding later, “In the end, we are in a deficit now, our fans and potential fans beyond do not respond positively to all of that stuff.”

But musicals weren’t the only thing irritating donors, according to the petition. O’Keefe is portrayed throughout the document as badgering uncomfortable donors for five- and six-figure checks. Other donors didn’t like his treatment of his employees, the employees say.

When a woman O’Keefe had asked for a $75,000 check requested a picture with him, according to the memo, he “very rudely” refused.

“She was humiliated to the point of tears,” the memo reads.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Jan 29, 2023 (The Expresswire) -- [In 2023] The Global Test Preparation Market Size (123 Report Pages) is estimated to be worth USD million in 2021 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD million by 2029, New Researcher (Due to COVID-19 pandemic) as a researcher, you will be responsible for conducting experiments, analyzing data, and interpreting results in order to advance knowledge in your field. with a CAGR during review period. Banking accounting for percentage of the Test Preparation global market in 2022, is projected to value USD million by 2029, growing at a CAGR in Forecast 2023 to 2029. While On-Premise segment is altered to a CAGR between 2023 and 2029.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

KD College Prep, a test prep and college counseling company based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, finalizes instructional changes to prepare students for the migration of College Board's PSAT/NMSQT(R) and SAT(R) tests to a new digital format next year.

Coppell, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2023) - KD College Prep, a test prep and college counseling company based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, finalizes instructional changes to prepare students for the migration of College Board's PSAT/NMSQT® and SAT® tests to a new digital format next year.

Early in 2022, College Board (the organization that administers the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT tests) announced that it would offer the tests digitally in the U.S. starting in 2023 and 2024. In addition to format changes, adjustments in test content could pose significant challenges for students.

KD College Prep Announces Test Prep Classes and Counseling for the New SAT® Test

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Scoring on both the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT® tests will remain the same, although College Board will reduce the length of the SAT test by approximately an hour.

The new digital format will also be adaptive, meaning it will vary from student to student. After a student has finished the first module, one of two potential second-stage modules will appear based on the number of questions the student answers correctly initially. Generally, one module has questions that are more difficult than the other.

The new SAT® test format will still feature a verbal and a math section. The verbal section (made up of studying and writing questions) will have shorter studying passages with a single question after each. With less questions, students will rely more on test-taking strategies to find the correct answer on time. The test will group together questions that test similar skills and knowledge, arranged from easiest to hardest.

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The math section allows students to use a built-in calculator on the entire section, which is a significant change. Students will find the same math concepts-Algebra 1 and 2, geometry, and trigonometry. "Free response" questions will show up throughout the section, instead of only at the end.

"College Board's accurate announcement about making the SAT digital brings back many familiar memories. Over the last 30 years, KD College Prep has seen many adjustments, reconstructions, and makeovers by College Board. With each change we have adapted and found new and improved ways to prepare our students for college," says David Dillard, CEO of KD College Prep.

Since 1992, KD College Prep has helped students prepare for college admissions tests through in-person or live-online prep courses and activities. The organization has four campuses in the DFW area and currently serves students in 37 states across the U.S.

SAT® is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board. PSAT/NMSQT® is a registered trademark of the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. KD College Prep has no affiliation with these institutions and is not approved or endorsed by them.

CONTACT:
Name: David Dillard
Organization: KD CollegePrep
Address: 621 TX 121 Suite 450 Coppell, TX 75019, United States
Phone: (972) 906-8825

Contact Info:
Name: Jenny Moore
Email: j.moore@kdcollegeprep.com
Organization: KD College Prep
Address: 621 Texas 121 Suite 450, Coppell, TX 75019, United States
Website: https://kdcollegeprep.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/152280

SpaceX announced on Monday it completed a major test of its latest Starship prototype, as the company prepares for the first orbital launch of the towering rocket.

Starship prototype 24, stacked on Super Heavy booster prototype 7, was fueled up at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas in a test known as a “wet dress rehearsal.” While the test does not include firing up the rocket’s engines, it is a typical practice during development of a new liquid-fueled vehicle to show that it can be safely filled before a launch, as well as verify the steps of a launch countdown.

“This was the first time an integrated Ship and Booster were fully loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant,” SpaceX said in a tweet.

Starship is a nearly 400-foot-tall rocket designed to carry cargo and people beyond Earth. It is also critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon, with SpaceX having won a nearly $3 billion contract from the agency in 2021.

An orbital launch attempt of Starship marks the next step in flight testing for the rocket. It’s been nearly two years since the company last performed a Starship flight test, and late last year SpaceX shook up leadership at its “Starbase” facility in Texas as the company pushes to get the next launch off the ground.

SpaceX has a few more steps remaining before Starship can next launch, including a planned test firing of all 33 engines at the base of the Super Heavy rocket booster. The company also needs a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

SpaceX announced on Monday it completed a major test of its latest Starship prototype, as the company prepares for the first orbital launch of the towering rocket.

Starship prototype 24, stacked on Super Heavy booster prototype 7, was fueled up at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas in a test known as a “wet dress rehearsal.” While the test does not include firing up the rocket’s engines, it is a typical practice during development of a new liquid-fueled vehicle to show that it can be safely filled before a launch, as well as verify the steps of a launch countdown.

“This was the first time an integrated Ship and Booster were fully loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant,” SpaceX said in a tweet.

Starship is a nearly 400-foot-tall rocket designed to carry cargo and people beyond Earth. It is also critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon, with SpaceX having won a nearly $3 billion contract from the agency in 2021.

An orbital launch attempt of Starship marks the next step in flight testing for the rocket. It’s been nearly two years since the company last performed a Starship flight test, and late last year SpaceX shook up leadership at its “Starbase” facility in Texas as the company pushes to get the next launch off the ground.

SpaceX has a few more steps remaining before Starship can next launch, including a planned test firing of all 33 engines at the base of the Super Heavy rocket booster. The company also needs a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com