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The suit says the nonprofit’s leaders — who helped bring anti-immigrant ideas into the G.O.P. mainstream — used donor money to buy a castle-like home.
By David A. Fahrenthold and Alan Feuer
David A. Fahrenthold is an investigative reporter covering nonprofits. Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence in America.
Sept. 3, 2025, 12:35 p.m. ET
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, sued the anti-immigration nonprofit VDARE on Wednesday, saying that the husband and wife who run the group had drained more than $1 million from its coffers to pay themselves and to buy a medieval-style castle in West Virginia.
Peter and Lydia Brimelow, VDARE’s leaders, are longtime opponents of immigration whose blog has become a bridge between mainstream Republicans and the more overtly racist elements of the far right. Mr. Brimelow, 77, has referred to himself as the “god-uncle” of the alt-right, the dissident white nationalist movement that emerged during President Trump’s first term.
At the same time, Ms. James said, the pair had treated their tax-exempt charity as a “personal piggy bank,” using its money to pay for club memberships, international travel, home renovations and payments that benefited them and their relatives. She asked a New York state judge to force the Brimelows to pay back what they had taken, plus penalties, then dissolve VDARE and disperse its assets to other charities.
“Charities are intended to serve the public, not to bankroll castles or pad personal fortunes,” Ms. James said in a statement.
Ms. James, a Democrat, regulates charities registered in New York.
VDARE was established in the state in 1999. It is named after Virginia Dare, who was the first English child documented to be born on the American continent, in 1587. She has been adopted as a white supremacist icon.
In 2022, Ms. James sued VDARE for refusing to comply with subpoenas for documents. A state judge later found the nonprofit in contempt of court because of its slow cooperation, imposing tens of thousands of dollars in penalties that Ms. James said the group had not paid.
