Officials overseeing the Conservative Political Action Conference knew about past accusations of sexual misconduct by chairman Matt Schlapp but failed to investigate or remove him from his powerful post, an amended sexual battery and defamation lawsuit claims.

In one alleged incident, during a fundraising trip to South Florida in early 2022, Schlapp was accused of stripping to his underwear and rubbing against another person without his consent, according to the filing. In 2017, at a CPAC after-party, Schlapp attempted to kiss an employee against his wishes, the lawsuit claims.

In both cases, according to the suit, the alleged victims reported the unwanted advances to staffers at CPAC’s parent organization, the American Conservative Union, but no action was taken against Schlapp, a longtime Republican power broker and prominent backer of former president Donald Trump.

The new allegations were added one week ago to a lawsuit filed in January by a former Republican campaign staffer, Carlton Huffman, who accused Schlapp of groping him in October 2022. The alleged additional victims are not identified and are not joining the suit; the court filing says their allegations were obtained through the discovery process.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Schlapp, on Friday disputed the claims and attacked Huffman’s credibility.

“These demonstrably false allegations are a continuation of transparent and desperate tactics,” he said, adding that Huffman is trying “to bolster his spurious claims and taint potential jurors.”

An ACU spokesperson referred to Corallo for comment. Schlapp’s attorney, Benjamin Chew, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The amended lawsuit adds to the financial and political pressures on the ACU, a standard-bearer of the conservative movement that has endured an exodus of board members, staffers and corporate sponsors amid mounting concerns about Schlapp’s leadership and financial stewardship. Schlapp and the ACU have not responded to the amended complaint in court yet.

“ACU previously was notified and aware of Matthew Schlapp’s propensity for unlawful sexual assault and battery, including at least two prior incidents of similar conduct,” the filing says. “ACU was negligent in its continued employment of Matthew Schlapp in a prominent leadership role.”

The new complaint in Alexandria Circuit Court adds the American Conservative Union as a defendant and asks for an additional $3.7 million in punitive damages and costs. Previously, only Schlapp and his wife were named as defendants in the $9.4 million suit. ACU had paid more than $1 million in legal fees as of August, as the discovery process was in the early stages, according to a former board member’s resignation letter.

The two prior allegations against Schlapp were previously reported by The Washington Post.

Five board members have left the ACU and its foundation arm in recent months, as well as more than half the staff since 2021. Some former officials have called for Schlapp’s resignation to protect the reputation of CPAC, which draws thousands of conservative activists from around the country to an annual gathering in the D.C. area and showcases GOP politicians seeking higher office.

Schlapp and his allies have attributed the criticism to “those with an ax to grind.”

Current board members who have remained loyal to Schlapp say he has put the organization on a more solid financial footing and raised its profile since he was elected chairman in 2014.

The lawsuit began in January when Huffman, a staffer on Herschel Walker’s U.S. Senate campaign in Georgia, alleged that Schlapp groped his crotch during a campaign trip to Atlanta last fall. Call logs, texts and videos provided by Huffman and his confidants to The Post and in his lawsuit broadly matched his account of quickly sharing the allegation with six family members and friends, and three Walker campaign officials confirmed to The Post that he told them about the alleged incident that night or the next day.

The suit also accuses Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, a CPAC senior fellow and former Trump administration adviser, of defamation, which she denied.

Schlapp, 55, has acknowledged going to two bars with Huffman that night but has denied any wrongdoing. Huffman initially filed the suit anonymously, and Schlapp’s allies accused him of trying to avoid scrutiny of his own record, which includes expressing extremist views on a white-supremacist blog and radio show more than a decade ago.

In March, Huffman, 39, was ordered by a judge to stay away for one year from a Raleigh, N.C., housemate who alleged he performed unwanted sex acts on her and another woman, according to court documents filed in Wake County, N.C. Huffman has denied wrongdoing, and no criminal charges were filed.

A trial in Huffman’s lawsuit against the Schlapps and ACU is scheduled for June 2024.

Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.

By Beth Reinhard

Beth Reinhard has been a reporter at The Washington Post since 2017. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, National Journal, The Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post.

By Isaac Arnsdorf

Isaac Arnsdorf is a national political reporter for The Washington Post who covers former president Donald Trump, the “Make America Great Again” political movement and the Republican Party.