The videos O’Keefe made led to the collapse of ACORN. O'Keefe agrees to fork over $100K

Conservative activist James O’Keefe has agreed to pay $100,000 to a former employee of ACORN in National City, Calif., in order to settle a lawsuit, according to media reports and federal court documents.

In the documents, O’Keefe says he “regrets any pain” he caused Juan Carlos Vera, who was surreptitiously interviewed by O’Keefe in August 2009, according to the Los Angeles Times. The video appears to show Vera agreeing to help O’Keefe and another activist, Hannah Giles, smuggle young girls into the Untied States to work as prostitutes. O’Keefe also admitted in the settlement he didn’t know Vera had contracted police after their conversation when he distributed the video.


The lawsuit argued O’Keefe broke a state law barring the secret recording of someone’s voice or image. Jerry Brown, then California’s attorney general and now its governor, gave O’Keefe and Giles immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for turning over unedited videos made in National City, Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

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An attorney for O’Keefe said the payment was a “nuisance settlement.” O’Keefe “has a full career ahead as a talented investigative journalist,” Michael Madigan told the paper.

The videos O’Keefe made led to the collapse of ACORN, which worked in low-income communities to register voters and organize campaigns. The group had become a conservative bete noire because of allegations of voter fraud.

But O’Keefe was criticized for deceptively editing the videos. Most notably, he filmed himself walking into the offices while wearing a ’70s-style pimp outfit, but actually met with ACORN employees while wearing a suit and tie.

The settlement was first reported by Wonkette.