Missoula judge issues warrant for arrest of neo-Nazi publisher Andrew Anglin
Keila Szpaller
(Daily Montanan) A U.S. District Court judge issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for a neo-Nazi publisher earlier ordered to pay $14 million after he unleashed an anti-Semitic “troll storm” against a Whitefish woman and her family.
A September court order said Andrew Anglin had 30 days to comply with requests for documents showing his whereabouts and income and assets, among other things. Failure to do so would result in a bench warrant.
First reported by the Associated Press, the Nov. 9 warrant signed by Judge Dana Christensen commands the U.S. Marshal “and any authorized United States Officer” to arrest Anglin and bring him to court in Missoula as soon as possible.
Lawyer John Morrison, who represents plaintiff Tanya Gersh of Whitefish, said Wednesday his client expects Anglin to be taken into custody.
“Andrew Anglin has evaded the court’s jurisdiction and ignored the court’s orders for months and years, and it became necessary for the court to issue a warrant for his arrest,” Morrison said. “And we intend to see that that warrant is executed and enforced to the full extent of the law.”
He declined to comment on whether he had information on Anglin’s whereabouts.
In 2017, Gersh sued Anglin for harassment, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress after he used the Daily Stormer to encourage people to harass her and her family and posted their personal information online.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which also represented Gersh in the case, describes Anglin’s website as “arguably the most influential neo-Nazi website in America during the latter half of the 2010s.”
Anglin had claimed Gersh tried to extort money from the mother of Richard Spencer, who had been a national leader in fringe movement of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other far right extremists. At the time, Spencer’s mother owned property in Whitefish, and Spencer lived there part of the year.
Anglin’s followers then bombarded Gersh with crude messages and threats, according to court records. A judge earlier described their treatment as “atrocious conduct,” according to the Missoulian.
In 2019, the court entered a default judgment against Anglin and ordered him to pay $10 million in punitive damages and $4 million in compensatory damages, according to a court order.
But Anglin didn’t pay and disappeared, according to court records.
The AP noted Anglin also owes money from other cases where targets of his harassment campaigns won judgments against him because he failed to respond. The story said a Muslim American radio host was awarded $4.1 million in damages for being falsely accused of terrorism by Anglin.
The September order said Anglin will be responsible for the additional $3,507.50 in attorney’s fees associated with the new motion in the case Gersh filed.
In a profile of Anglin, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted he was influential in the “Stop the Steal” movement as well and had encouraged readers to travel to Washington, D.C., “for the rally-turned-insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021.
Anglin does not currently have representation and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.