BALTIMORE (WGHP) — An attorney representing members or associates of a white nationalist group, who are suing an activist for allegedly infiltrating their group and leaking their identities, was a dues-paying member of a neo-Nazi group, according to the SPLC Hatewatch.
The lawsuit, filed at the end of July on behalf of several members and associates of the white nationalist group Patriot Front, alleges that David Alan Capito II, aka Vyacheslav Arkangelskiy, falsely represented himself to gain access to Patriot Front members, computer servers and other personal information. He then allegedly leaked that information, leading to the plaintiffs losing their jobs or being forced to move.
In the information about the lawsuit, their legal representatives are listed as Christopher Hogue, of Washington, whose Hogue Law Firm advertises their services as personal injury and consumer protection.
Also listed at the end of the document is attorney Glen Allen, who is listed as “pro hac vice.” Legally, this means that they are requesting that Allen be allowed to work on the case despite not being licensed in the jurisdiction where it is being heard. Allen is a Maryland-based attorney, while the lawsuit is being filed in the Western District of Washington.
Glen Allen
On his website, Allen lists his areas of practice as First Amendment issues, tort claims and contract disputes among other things.
The SPLC first reported that the attorney was a dues-paying member of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, in 2016 while Allen was representing the city of Baltimore in a suit alleging that police fabricated evidence that led to the wrongful conviction of a Black man. The National Alliance was founded by William Pierce, who authored “The Turner Diaries,” the inspiration behind the Oklahoma City Bombings of 1995. Pierce was also a financial contributor and “vice chairman” to the American Eagle Party, a “racist political party” helmed by one-time presidential candidate Merlin Miller and was identified as the National Alliance’s attorney by the neo-Nazi aligned Vanguard News Network.
Allen’s contract with the city of Baltimore was terminated sometime shortly after the SPLC’s reporting. According to Allen’s website, he “retired” from the law firm DLA Piper in 2016 and has been helming his solo firm ever since.
In 2021, the SPLC reported that Allen was operating as a “shadow” attorney, offering legal advice to a defendant in a lawsuit against participants in the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Leaked emails showed that Allen seemingly provided legal advice to Michael Peinovich, despite never formally appearing as counsel in the case, and despite Peinovich representing himself “pro se” in the suit. The judge dropped Peinovich from the lawsuit “after Peinovich argued his case through Allen’s apparent assistance. As a result, he spared Peinovich a potentially significant financial burden. The use of shadow lawyers is controversial, especially in federal courts, although not strictly prohibited in Virginia,” the SPLC wrote.
Additionally, Allen is listed as a board member of the Free Expression Foundation, a non-profit founded in 2018 that claims to support First Amendment rights in legal cases, that posted on their website that they were helping take up the lawsuit.
“FEF’s outlook aligns with the remarkable and precious tradition of First Amendment protections provided by the United States Supreme Court in cases such as Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992), and Snyder v. Phelps (2011),” the website reads.
Brandenburg v. Ohio was a case involving the Ku Klux Klan, where the court determined that people cannot be punished for “abstract advocacy of violence.”
R.A.V. v. the City of St. Paul was a case in which courts struck down St. Paul’s attempts to make it illegal to display a burning cross or swastika “in an attempt to arouse anger or alarm on the basis of race, color, creed, or religion.”
Snyder v. Phelps was a case that ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church’s extreme forms of protest were protected under the First Amendment.
Patriot Front’s lawsuit
The plaintiffs in the Patriot Front case are listed as Paul Gancarz, Daniel Turetchi, Colton Brown, James Johnson and Amelia Johnson.
The defendant, Capito, is described in the filing to be a “radical antifa activist” and member of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, an organization described as an “anti-fascist, anti-racist, pro-worker community defense organization.”
Patriot Front lawsuit by FOX8 on Scribd
The plaintiffs allege that Capito doxxed them by leaking Patriot Front membership information to the groups Distributed Denial of Secrets and Unicorn Riot, costing some members their jobs and, in some cases, forcing them to move over backlash to what they describe as their “unpopular political opinions.”
The suit describes Patriot Front as an organization that engages in “provocative” but “nonviolent activism” to push forward their mission of reforging “… our people, born to this nation of our European race … as a new collective capable of asserting our right to cultural independence.”
Over 30 members of Patriot Front were arrested in the summer of 2022, with several members ultimately convicted, after bringing a U-Haul full of weapons to an Idaho park hosting a Pride Month celebration.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages from Capito over the financial and emotional impact of his alleged actions.
