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Update on Alleged Illegal Infiltration of AFT Michigan by Project Veritas
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AFT Media Affairs
MICHIGAN—A federal court will now consider the legal case filed by AFT Michigan against Project Veritas and its alleged operative Marisa Jorge. Project Veritas attorneys filed a last-minute request to move the case from state to federal court. This follows a pattern of Project Veritas dodging responsibility for allegations of unlawful conduct, including attempting to evade being served with a restraining order and summons.
The restraining order barring Project Veritas from publishing any material it illegally obtained during its infiltration of AFT Michigan, issued last week by Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan Judge Brian Sullivan, remains in effect.
The case has been assigned to United States District Court Judge Paul Borman in the Eastern District of Michigan. A hearing date is pending.
AFT Michigan alleges that Jorge and Project Veritas committed fraudulent, unauthorized and unlawful surveillance of AFT Michigan staff, leaders and associates for the purpose of distorting and disseminating that surveillance in order to smear the union and halt its work championing opportunity for students, teachers, families and communities.
AFT Michigan is prepared to provide further evidence of the alleged theft, including evidence obtained from forensic investigations. Witnesses and affidavits will attest that Jorge violated Michigan law, which bars fraudulent misrepresentation, larceny, trespass and making recordings without both parties’ consent
Jorge, using the alias Marissa Perez, secured an internship with AFT Michigan, ostensibly to obtain material Project Veritas could use in one of its infamously misleading hit videos, according to the complaint. The restraining order is against Jorge as well as “her agents, employees and those acting in concert,” which would include Project Veritas, also named in the complaint.
AFT Michigan’s complaint is here: https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/complaint_aftmi_veritas_092717.pdf
The temporary restraining order against Project Veritas and Marisa Jorge is here:
https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/tro_aftmi_veritas_092817.pdf
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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.