Aimee Harris, 40, of Palm Beach, Florida, and Robert Kurlander, 58, of Jupiter, Florida pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property taken from Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden who, at the time, was campaigning for president.
The two sold the stolen property to the far-right media group Project Veritas, which has defied journalistic ethics by using entrapment and deceptive editing in an effort to discredit progressive groups such as Planned Parenthood, teachers unions, members of the Democratic party, and the social welfare group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), whose employees Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe had to pay $100,000 to in a lawsuit for defamation.
According to government documents published by the United States Department of Justice, Harris had access to a private residence (which The Guardian reports belonged to a friend of Ashley Biden) in Delray Beach, Florida, where Ashley Biden had stored her personal belongings. In or around September of 2020, Harris apparently had temporary access to the room where the personal items were stored and stole them.
Harris then contacted Kurlander for assistance in trafficking the stolen goods. The two made contact with Project Veritas, based in Mamaroneck, New York who, upon proof of the stolen items, flew the Florida pair out to New York City and paid them $40,000 in total for the personal property of Ashley Biden, and then prompted the two to steal even more of Ashley Biden’s belongings from the Delray Beach residence.
Prosecutors in court showed texts sent by Kurlander to Harris shortly after they had stolen Ashley Biden’s property, in which Kurlander referred to Project Veritas as a “sketchy business and here they are taking what’s literally a stolen diary and info” in an attempt to “try and effect the election.”
“I know what I did was wrong and awful, and I apologize,” Mr. Kurlander said in court.
“I sincerely apologize for any actions and know what I did was illegal,” Ms. Harris said.
Despite spending $40,000 on Ashley Biden’s diary, which she wrote during addiction recovery, Project Veritas did not publish the item. Whether or not the Justice Department will pursue criminal charges against the alt-right media company remains unclear. The conservative website, National File, managed to get their hands on the diary and published it in late October, though it gained little to no attention from other media sources.
Federal investigators with court authority have searched the homes of two former Project Veritas employees as well as the home of O’Keefe in an effort to track down the stolen property over the course of a two-year investigation.
Both Harris and Kurlander agreed to forfeit $20,000 while Kurlander agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation. The crime they committed carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.