Phila. ACORN sues secret filmmakers

The Philadelphia-office director of the anti-poverty group ACORN filed a civil lawsuit late Thursday in federal district court alleging that two conservative filmmakers violated state law when they recorded an interview with her without her consent and then disseminated it.

State law prohibits the intentional interception, disclosure or use of oral communications.

The lawsuit alleges James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles showed up at ACORN's Philadelphia office last July "on the pretext" they were there for housing and mortgage advice and interviewed director Katherine Conway-Russell in her office.

According to the lawsuit, O'Keefe and Giles met with Conway-Russell in an "attempt to entrap" ACORN workers into behaving inappropriately. Conway-Russell told O'Keefe and Giles that she could help them only with mortgage opportunities but not with other matters, the lawsuit said.

O'Keefe and Giles later disseminated the audio and video recording of the interview to "injure and harm" Conway-Russell, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

David Rudovsky, Conway-Russell's attorney, declined comment on the lawsuit. Contacted on his cell phone, O'Keefe declined comment and didn't respond to a reporter's e-mail questions.

O'Keefe and Giles attracted national media attention last summer when, posing as a pimp and prostitute, they approached two female seasonal workers in ACORN's Baltimore office, made a secret video recording of the meeting, then posted it online.

The ACORN workers, later dismissed, are shown advising O'Keefe and Giles on how to maximize tax credits while setting up a brothel with underage sex workers from South America.

The lawsuit filed here makes no mention whether O'Keefe and Giles used a pimp-and-prostitute ruse in their meeting with Conway-Russell. In a video portion of the Conway-Russell meeting posted on a conservative Web site, O'Keefe refers to Giles as a "prostitute" and Giles can be seen wearing a short skirt.