Acorn Investigation

Index of ACORN videos by city:

• Baltimore
• Washington D.C.
• New York City
• San Bernardino
• San Diego
• Los Angeles
• Philadelphia

In this video, James O’Keefe summarizes the ACORN investigation, media coverage and impact.

The now-defunct and disgraced Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was a massive, unaccountable taxpayer-subsidized group that the Obama Administration was using to conduct the Census, register voters and sign people up for government programs. At its height ACORN had over 500,000 members and more than 1,200 chapters in over 100 U.S. cities.

James O’Keefe, founder and President of Project Veritas, along with Hannah Giles, posed as a “pimp and prostitute” and visited an ACORN office in Baltimore, Maryland ’s seeking tax advice on how to obtain a loan to start a brothel. Astonishingly, this unusual and illegal request was not met with even the slightest hint of hesitation, as the ACORN tax expert was all too eager to give the professed “pimp and prostitute” the advice they sought. In fact, the ACORN employees in this Baltimore office went on to give advice on how to avoid the police and how not to get into trouble with an abusive pimp.

Going from the ridiculous to the sublime, the ACORN employee freely gave advice on how to claim as dependents 13 “very young” girls, purportedly trafficked from El Salvador to be prostitutes. Indeed, she went on to warn O’Keefe and Giles that: “with your girls [the aforementioned 13 underage El Salvadorian prostitutes], you tell them, be careful. Train them to keep their mouths shut. Always keep your eyes in the back of your head.” This was merely one of a plethora of horrendous, unthinkable and unconscionable statements made by the Baltimore ACORN employees. 

In Part II of the ACORN Exposé, O’Keefe and Giles resumed their roles as “pimp and prostitute” and visited another ACORN office, this one in Washington D.C. seeking tax advice on how to obtain a loan to start a brothel, the funds of which would be subsequently used for a political campaign.  This outlandish and illegal request was met without hesitation by an ACORN mortgage consultant and a housing employee as they instructed the professed “pimp and prostitute” to form their business as an LLC and that Hannah should consider herself a “sole proprietor.”  The ACORN employees went as far as warning them to eliminate suspicion of prostitution from any neighbors: “You’ve got to be low key.”

The ludicrous situation reached new levels as the ACORN employees then insisted that the “pimp” act as a landlord and if  “the police ask [about the money], you don’t know where it’s coming from.”  They cautioned that if O’Keefe wanted to do anything political in the future he should distance himself from situation: “We’re looking out for both of you.”  These were merely a few of the unthinkable and unconscionable statements made by the Washington D.C. ACORN employees.

In Part III of the ACORN Exposé, O’Keefe and Giles resumed their roles as “pimp and prostitute” and visited another ACORN office, this one in New York City seeking tax advice on how to obtain a loan to start a brothel, the funds of which would be subsequently used for a political campaign. ACORN Office Administrator, Milagros Rivera, advised the undercover duo to include a third party member to transfer the money from Hannah to James in order to keep the two separated and the money trail unknown: “So there would be no link there, you understand? So, you have to be very very careful with what you’re doing.” The ACORN officials went as far as freely advising Hannah on how to hide the money from an abusive pimp: “When you buy the house, with a backyard, you get a tin, and you bury it. You put the money in a tin and put it in the yard. Cover it with grass. Don’t tell a single soul but yourself where it is.” Rivera goes on to mention that to keep neighbors from the suspicion that she is burying cash, tell them she is simply keeping the yard clean.

In Part IV of the ACORN Exposé, O’Keefe and Giles resumed their roles as “pimp and prostitute” and visited yet another ACORN office, this time on the west coast in San Bernardino, California seeking tax advice on how to obtain a loan to start a brothel, the funds of which would be subsequently used for a political campaign.  ACORN employee Tresa Kaelke was more than happy, if not ecstatic, to aid the alleged pimp and prostitute in their illegal and outrageous request: “I have experience on how not to get caught!”  Kaelke tells them to disguise it [the prostitution house] as a spa or massage parlor.  She proceeds to warn them that in order to make the spa look legitimate they should front it with vitamins or herbal supplies to reduce neighbors’ suspicion of illegal activity.  She also advises that they work mostly with cash, as she had done with her prostitution business in the past.

Going from the ridiculous to the sublime, Kaelke then brought the “pimp and prostitute” to the home of Jim Miller who freely gave his personal advice on how match the underage girls trafficked in from El Salvador to the market based on their English vocabulary.  Kaelke then promised that she would threaten Miller with his life in order to keep him from talking about the brothel: “I can kill people.  I don’t have a problem with that.”  These are merely just a few of the horrendous, unthinkable, and unconscionable statements made by the San Bernardino ACORN employee.

In Part V of the ACORN Exposé, O’Keefe and Giles again resume their roles as “pimp and prostitute” and visited another west coast ACORN office, this one in San Diego, California seeking advice on trafficking 12 underage girls over the boarder from El Salvador for prostitution.  They explained to ACORN immigration employee, Juan Carlos, that they were having difficulties getting the girls into the United States.  Carlos mentioned that with his many contacts in Tijuana, Mexico, he might have someone who could aid them in their illegal activities.  He listed the criteria that he would need in order to further assist the undercover O’Keefe and Giles alleged with their alleged shipment of underage girls.

Upon leaving the ACORN office, the conversation continued and Carlos went as far as to inquire about the prices of the prostitute’s services for a three-day weekend.  He also reminded them to be careful and not talk to anyone about trafficking the young girls.  Finally, he assured them not only that he would not tell his family members who were in the police force about the visit, but also that he would not be reprimanded by ACORN for their discussion.

South Central Los Angeles, Lavelle Stewart talks about Larry Flynt, international sex businesses, and ways she can do independent research in order to help us. 

In this video, Katherine Conway-Russell tries to defend her actions at the ACORN Philadelphia location.