ABUSER: Insider quits, reveals embezzlement concerns atop CPAC

ABUSER: Insider quits, reveals embezzlement concerns atop CPAC

CPAC was hit hard with sexual assault allegations against its chairman

The issue is having a ripple effect.

Matt Schlapp is the chairman of both the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the American Conservative Union (ACU). What used to be an annual CPAC gathering of Republicans has turned into an international roster of far right-wing events.

Schlapp also stands accused of sexually assaulting a male staffer on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in Georgia last year.

He denied everything, and his accuser, Carlton Huffman, came forward publicly with a lawsuit, as well as documentation, including text messages and phone logs to support his story. Huffman also has a video.

Now, it seems Schlapp began using ACU funds for his legal defense

The organization’s treasurer Bob Beauprez has resigned over that use of funds, saying that he was ‘blindsided’ and has not been provided with appropriate records of the expenditures after a financial director resigned earlier this year

Instead of hiring a CPA to handle the books, Schlapp brought in a political operative whose work left “glaring irreconcilable, unexplained differences” in the charity’s ledgers and that he can’t have “any confidence in the accuracy of the numbers” in a financial report.

The finances aren’t Beauprez’s only concern, either. Intelligencer reports:

“Beauprez also said ACU was not abiding by a number of its bylaws and could face serious legal jeopardy. He wrote that board members were being paid by the organization without a vote or the approval of the full board.”

He also described an environment where employees “have succumbed to professional therapists and prescription drugs” due to treatment within the organization and what he calls “a cancer” that has been “metastasizing within the organization for years.”

Schlapp addressed the claims in a Twitter post, complaining that “routine internal complaints of disgruntled employees are being rehashed and leaked.”

The CPAC Chairman also argued that the media won’t allow ‘the opportunity to respond in a substantive way.”

He did not, in his Twitter post or otherwise, offer any response that contradicted the claims made by either Beauprez or Huffman. Instead, he claimed victimhood:

“I’ve experienced a political assassination attempt on every part of my character and integrity for the past five months. I’m disgusted that I need to respond to the Post about internal deliberations of CPAC – an organization that’s grown five-fold under my leadership.”

Huffman says that when he was assigned to drive Schlapp around as part of his campaign duties for Walker.

The CPAC leader allegedly took him to a bar where he kept invading his space and ignoring cues to back off.

Then, when being driven back to his hotel, the suit alleges Schlapp tried to grab Huffman’s genitals and invite the staffer back to his room.

Stephanie Bazzle

Steph Bazzle is a news writer who covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph. Sign up for all of her stories to be delivered to your inbox here: