Project Veritas, the right-wing activist group, paid $40,000 for the diary of Ashley Biden, stolen by two people who later pleaded guilty to the crime of transporting it over state lines. The group's plans to publish personal photos, personal information and revealing entries haven't worked out, though, with members of the group being raided over the stolen property and a judge now ruling that they have no First Amendment claim to the diary's contents.
The pleas came two years after Harris and Kurlander — two Florida residents who are not employed by Project Veritas — discovered that Ashley Biden, the president's daughter, had stored items including a diary at a friend's Delray Beach, Florida, house. They said they initially hoped to sell some of the stolen property to then-President Donald Trump's campaign, but a representative turned them down and told them to take the material to the FBI, prosecutors say. Eventually, Project Veritas paid the pair $20,000 apiece to deliver the diary containing "highly personal entries," a digital storage card with private family photos, tax documents, clothes and luggage to New York, prosecutors said. Project Veritas was not charged with any crime. The group has said its activities were newsgathering and were ethical and legal.
Project Veritas is presently without clear leadership: the founder was fired for abusing staff and misusing funds and is under investigation in New York, and his replacement soon quit and said that it was an "unsalveagable mess" due to all the criminal goings-on there.
