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MANHATTAN (CN) — The owners of controversial anti-immigration nonprofit VDARE used donor funds like a “personal piggy bank” to buy a West Virginia castle for their family, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
James on Wednesday sued the alt-right organization and the couple who owns it, Peter and Lydia Brimelow, in an effort to shutter VDARE altogether over supposed breaches of state law.
“Charities are intended to serve the public, not to bankroll castles or pad personal fortunes,” James said in a statement announcing the suit. “The Brimelows used VDARE like their personal piggy bank, draining millions in charitable assets to enrich themselves.”
“New Yorkers deserve accountability, and we will not allow these bad actors to keep abusing the trust of their donors and the public,” James continued. “My office is taking action to ensure these funds are used for their intended charitable purpose, remove the Brimelows from control, and shut down this fraudulent organization.”
VDARE was originally founded in 1999 under the name Lexington Research Institute. Presenting itself as a charitable research organization, the institute’s primary function was operating VDARE.com, a blog that has platformed a number of controversial speakers linked to race science, white supremacism and white nationalism.
The organization is deemed an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which describes VDARE as “a home for racist writers disaffected with the conservative mainstream” like Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, among others.
But it’s not VDARE’s editorialism at the center of James’ lawsuit — it’s the group’s finances. James claims that, since its inception, VDARE’s board of directors has consisted entirely of Peter Brimelow’s relatives or close friends, allowing him and his wife to operate the nonprofit with lax oversight.
“One consequence of this lax oversight was that Peter and Lydia Brimelow could effectively determine their own compensation and how it was paid to them,” James argues in the 55-page lawsuit. “Since at least 2019, Peter and Lydia Brimelow repeatedly voted on their own compensation in violation of [state nonprofit law] and VDARE’s own conflict of interest policy.”
As a result, James claims Peter Brimelow received more than $1.1 million in compensation between 2019 and 2022, constituting a whopping 35% of the group’s overall reported expenses in that time period.
The Brimelows are also accused of using donor funds to finance rent, utilities and repairs on their Connecticut home by sending VDARE funds to a for-profit corporation they owned called Happy Penguins. James argues that even VDARE’s tight-knit board of directors didn’t know about the corporation, which “leased” the Brimelows’ services to VDARE and compensated the couple for those services using donor cash.
The state claims this was part of a broader scheme to transfer the bulk of VDARE’s charitable assets to a network of out-of-state corporations in the Brimelows’ control.
James adds that in 2020, the Brimelows used $1.4 million of those charitable assets to buy a medieval-style castle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. They did so under the guise of using the space for the organization’s offices, but instead moved their family into the castle and promptly transferred its ownership to their network of for-profit corporations in a batch of unlawful transactions, James claims.
James’ office has been probing VDARE since 2022. Since then, she claims the Brimelows have repeatedly sought to derail her investigation by ignoring subpoenas and withholding records, resulting in the group twice being held in contempt.
Last year, Peter Brimelow announced he was resigning and suspending VDARE’s operations, proclaiming that the site has “been murdered by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.” Despite that, James claims that the Brimelows never actually dissolved the organization and are continuing to solicit donations.
James is seeking a judgement against the Brimelows that bars them from serving as executives of any New York nonprofits, including VDARE, and orders them to repay the nonprofit.
She’s also seeking to dissolve VDARE in its entirety, which would distribute its remaining and future assets to other charities.
When reached via text, Peter Brimelow told Courthouse News that the case is “more lying lawfare from Letitia James.”
For James, the new lawsuit appears similar to her legal war with the National Rifle Association, another conservative nonprofit she sought to dissolve for violations of state law.
After roughly four years of litigation, James ultimately emerged victorious against the NRA and its longtime frontman Wayne LaPierre, who was found to have misappropriated donor funds to finance his luxurious lifestyle. A Manhattan jury ordered LaPierre to repay more than $4 million to the organization, and found that the NRA failed to stop him and other executives from using donor funds for personal gain.
She was unsuccessful in her bid to shutter the group though; a New York judge in 2022 found this would raise First Amendment concerns.
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