OUTRAGEOUS: Fidelity Charitable Falsely Accuses Project Veritas of Being Investigated for ‘Illegal and Non-Charitable Activities’ Based on Washington Post Articles, Tell Donors That They Have ‘Suspended Grants’ to Veritas

[WESTCHESTER, N.Y. – Feb. 8, 2021] A new video was released today exposing Fidelity Charitable for falsely accusing Project Veritas of engaging in illegal activities and using that as justification to ban donations to the organization.

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Fidelity Charitable cited two Washington Post articles from November where The Post attacked USPS whistleblower Richard Hopkins; they falsely affirmed Hopkins had recanted his allegations to Project Veritas about being a witness to ballot backdating a day after Election Day. Neither article made any mention about Project Veritas being involved in illegal or non-charitable activities.

Kelsey Awtry, Fidelity Charitable’s Core Operations Specialist, informed a Veritas donor that his donation was being halted.

“There have been several media outlets that have come out with information regarding some investigations into Project Veritas and some illegal and non-charitable activities that they have been involved in recently and so it’s because of that we have temporarily suspended grants to this organization,” Awtry said.

The donor, Marvin Tuomala, told Project Veritas why he found this grant denial suspicious.

“I granted some money or donated money to Project Veritas in December on the 14th that was approved on the 14th. I did a repeat in January on the 20th and that was denied,” Tuomala said.

Tuomala called Fidelity to get more information about their Veritas donation ban. 

Fidelity Charitable Client Service Representative Mikel Heyl explained to Tuomala that he was not the only one dealing with this issue.

“It's a lot of other people as well that are experiencing this [donation block] that want to give to Project Veritas,” Heyl said.

Project Veritas’ Chief Legal Officer, Jered Ede, reached out to Fidelity Charitable’s Associate General Counsel Thomas Bridge to clarify the situation.

Once Ede briefed Bridge on what had been said by Fidelity employees, Bridge went on defense.

“We’re not in a position to make a factual statement [about Project Veritas], that's not our place,” Bridge said.

Project Veritas is still waiting on Fidelity to clarify this situation and apologize. These false accusations that hinder the donor’s ability to contribute to the organization will not be tolerated.