White Nationalist Website VDARE Suspends Operations Amid Legal Scrutiny

Peter Brimelow, 76, and Lydia Brimelow, 40, the married couple who run VDARE, have said in multiple public statements that an ongoing investigation by the New York attorney general into the group’s business practices has cost them upward of $1 million in legal fees. In a July video, Peter Brimelow announced his intent to suspend the group’s operations, adding that the VDARE.com website “had been destroyed.” He also said that he had resigned as president of the VDARE Foundation, the nonprofit entity that oversees the site’s operations.

In March, a New York state judge found the VDARE Foundation in contempt of court for “willfully failing” to produce hard copy and electronic documents requested by the attorney general. The court required VDARE to pay a $250-per-day fine until it provides the documents.

In multiple statements published on the VDARE website and social media platforms, the Brimelows described losing access to multiple online services, including at least two payment processors used to take donations, within the past year.

It is unclear what the Brimelows’ decision to suspend publishing means for the future of the VDARE Foundation, which Peter Brimelow first registered in New York in 1999. Charities and nonprofits registered in that state are required to seek approval from the attorney general’s office if their leaders intend to dissolve an entity and redistribute its assets.

Neither of the Brimelows responded to an email from Hatewatch inquiring about the legal status of the foundation.

A spokesperson for the New York attorney general’s office told Hatewatch that the investigation is not affected by the closure of VDARE and Brimelow’s resignation. “VDARE must follow the court’s orders and comply with our subpoenas,” the spokesperson said.

Since 2022, the attorney general has been investigating whether VDARE “violated New York law” after it purchased a castle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, for $1.4 million without the help of a loan. VDARE has used the property, located about two hours outside Washington, D.C., as its headquarters since 2020. The attorney general contends that the Brimelows may have misused nonprofit funds by using the castle as their primary residence since March 2020.

Some Berkeley Springs residents have protested VDARE’s presence in the town.

Despite suspending publishing, Peter Brimelow announced in a video published on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, that he and Lydia Brimelow would continue to host events, including conferences and other events, at the castle.

Since its founding, VDARE has served as a bridge between the more mainstream anti-immigrant figures within the Republican Party and the white nationalist fringe. Peter Brimelow, a former editor at Forbes and columnist at National Review, used his stature within mainstream media to establish VDARE as one of the leading anti-immigration sites in the early 2000s. Its contributors have included a range of once-prominent right-wing pundits, including Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan and Michelle Malkin.

VDARE’s profile only grew throughout the Trump administration. Tax records show that VDARE’s revenue jumped from a little under $700,000 in 2018 to over $4.3 million in 2019 – in part due to a large $1.5 million donation from the right-wing funding vehicle DonorsTrust. Throughout the Trump administration, Hatewatch and other outlets reported on Peter Brimelow’s and VDARE’s connections to the White House and other powerful mainstream right-wing figures, including former Trump advisers Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon as well as Trump’s deputy communications director, Julia Hahn.

“My sense is that we are a lion succumbing to hyenas,” Lydia Brimelow wrote in a July 25 statement on the VDARE website. The post includes a 12-minute embedded YouTube video with several segments featuring hyenas chasing and mauling lions.

Picture at top: In July, VDARE founder Peter Brimelow announced that the white nationalist website was suspending operations. (Credit: SPLC)