By José Niño
A sprawling inquiry into the finances and governance of VDARE (name derived from Virginia Dare, the first white child born to English settlers in the New World) has left the immigration restriction group in disarray, with mounting legal fees, daily contempt fines, and the loss of online payment services pushing it to the brink.
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Peter Brimelow, editor of VDARE, was a former editor at National Review and Fortune magazine who fell out of favor with the institutional conservative movement. Originally from England, Brimelow launched the VDARE website in 1999 through the Center for American Unity, a Virginia-based non-profit organization he also founded that same year. VDARE emerged as an extension of Brimelow’s long standing opposition to mass immigration, which he had previously outlined in his book Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster.
Brimelow served as president of the Center for American Unity, which funded VDARE’s website until 2007, when the organization shifted its focus toward litigation. In response, Brimelow established the non-profit VDARE Foundation to serve as the site’s new sponsor.
Since it was founded in 1999, VDARE has been a steadfast promoter of sensible immigration reforms. It has consistently advocated for the implementation of an immigration moratorium, e-verify, abolishing birthright citizenship and chain migration, and other measures to curb both legal and illegal immigration.
For its staunch advocacy for immigration restriction, VDARE has earned itself numerous enemies across the political spectrum, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. This has not deterred the organization from disseminating uncomfortable truths about mass migration.
At the center of VDARE’s legal ordeal is an investigation launched by New York Attorney General Letitia James into the VDARE Foundation. This investigation began in 2022, with the AG’s office issuing a subpoena to Facebook for records connected to VDARE, followed by a subpoena to VDARE itself. According to court records, the investigation focuses on “potential financial improprieties, including unlawful related party transactions between VDARE and affiliated entities, officers and board members” in addition to “excessive compensation, private inurement, and violations of statutory and common law governance standards.”
VDARE filed a federal lawsuit against the AG in December 2022, and there are multiple ongoing legal proceedings in both state and federal courts in New York. In the lawsuits against the AG’s office, VDARE has claimed violations of its First Amendment rights.
A significant focus of the investigation appears to be real estate transactions related to the Berkeley Springs Castle in West Virginia, which VDARE purchased for $1.4 million in 2020. After the purchase, VDARE deeded portions of the property to two entities: the Berkeley Castle Foundation (a non-profit organization) and BBB (a for-profit LLC), both controlled by Lydia Brimelow, Peter’s wife. These transactions have raised concerns among New York authorities about potential self-dealing and violations of non-profit law.
In March 2024, a New York state judge found the VDARE Foundation in civil contempt for failing to produce required documents related to the investigation, imposing a $250 daily fine. The organization claims to have spent “up to $1 million” over nearly three years fighting the investigation.
In a July 23, 2024 video, Peter Brimelow claimed:
VDARE’s been murdered by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. She’s not charged us with anything, it’s important to note, she’s simply battered us to death with an enormous, ongoing, intrusive, quote-unquote, investigation.
On Aug. 21, 2024, VDARE finally announced it had suspended operations of its website, citing “relentless lawfare attack” by Letitia James “combined with mounting problems with cancel culture, including the final termination of all our online payment systems.” Brimelow resigned as editor of the VDARE website and from the VDARE Foundation, while his wife remains as president.
VDARE insists that the N.Y. AG’s investigation is politically motivated “lawfare” targeting them for their political views. They claim James is pursuing them not for actual financial improprieties but to silence their speech and obtain the names of anonymous writers and donors. The VDARE Foundation continues to operate despite the website’s suspension, maintaining the Berkeley Springs Castle as its headquarters and planning to continue hosting conferences.
The Brimelows would eventually launch a GiveSendGo fundraising campaign for the VDARE Foundation’s legal foundation. The GiveSendGo campaign seeks $100,000 to help with three specific legal needs:
- Overturning a “$1,000/day fine” described as “a naked act of tyranny”;
- Appealing their First Amendment case in federal court; and
- Filing ethics charges against AG James.
As of the middle of April, VDARE has raised over $40,000 in funds.
On April 3, 2025, Lydia published a video on social media site “X” highlighting VDARE’s legal struggles. She framed the legal battle with New York as more than lawfare—describing it as “spiritual warfare.”
“Letitia James does not pursue us because of some legal technicality. She pursues us because she hates what we represent,” she declared in the video. “She wants the names of our writers … because she knows that a truth spoken anonymously still shakes the world. A truth attached to a name can be punished.”
She also placed emphasis on the spiritual dimension of their struggle and the need for continuous prayer. “This is a spiritual battle as much as a legal one and we must ask God to intervene,” Lydia stated. “The castle still stands and VDARE still lives, but the hour is now.”
With daily fines accruing and legal bills soaring, VDARE’s leaders warn that the battle for their organization’s survival is far from over. However, VDARE will need all the help it can get from immigration patriots if they want to continue receiving hard-hitting journalism on immigration matters from the Brimelows.
