Accuser of Conservative Union Chief was Paid to Drop Sexual Harassment Suit Against Group’s Chief, Matt Schlapp: Report
The American Conservative Union’s insurance company reportedly paid almost $500,000 to make the lawsuit go away.
The American Conservative Union’s insurance company reportedly paid a man who sued the head of the organization, Matt Schlapp, for sexual battery and defamation to settle the case before it came to trial.
The Daily Beast reports that the former campaign staffer for football star Herschel Walker’s Georgia Senate campaign, Carlton Huffman, was paid $480,000 from the ACU’s insurer to drop the suit against Mr. Schlapp.
When the suit was dropped on Tuesday, Mr. Schlapp asserted his innocence, accusing what he calls “a left-wing media” of focusing on the sordid story “regardless of truth and facts.”
Mr. Huffman, also specifically said that he had not settled the lawsuit, saying that “Neither the Schlapps nor the ACU paid me anything to dismiss my claims against them.”
“The claims made in my lawsuits were the result of a complete misunderstanding, and I regret that the lawsuit caused pain to the Schlapp family,” Mr. Huffman said.
To make things more complicated for Mr. Schlapp, some of the social media posts made on his personal accounts appear to be in violation of the nondisparagement clause signed as part of the deal.
In the posts Mr. Schlapp claimed that he had been “cleared” of wrongdoing and that Mr. Huffman had “apologized” for the suit, verbiage that reportedly went beyond what Mr. Schlapp and Mr. Huffman had agreed to.
The lawsuit against Mr. Schlapp and the organization, which puts on the Conservative Political Action Conference, arose after Mr. Huffman came forward last January telling the Daily Beast about sexual advances Mr. Schlapp had made towards him.
Mr. Huffman alleged that Mr. Schlapp had “pummeled” his crotch while Mr. Huffam was driving Mr. Schlapp back to Mr. Schlapp’s hotel room after a night out at Atlanta.
In December, the Washington Post reported that Mr. Schlapp had faced two other suits alleging sexual misconduct against male staffers, including one in 2022 where Mr. Schlapp allegedly stripped to his underwear and rubbed himself against another person without his consent and one in 2017 when Mr. Schlapp allegedly attempted to kiss an employee against his wishes.
The American Conservative Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
