Neo-Nazi invoked racist ‘troll storm,’ lawsuit alleges
Hate, death threats funneled toward Jewish woman, son
GREAT FALLS, MONT. A federal lawsuit alleges the prominent head of a neo-Nazi alt-right group spurred white nationalist fanatics into an anti- Semitic “troll storm” that sent droves of hate-related messages and death threats to a Jewish woman and her 12-yearold son in Montana.
The lawsuit claims Andrew Anglin, publisher of the Daily Stormer neo-Nazi website, which has hundreds of thousands of visitors a month, provoked legions of his followers to send a “tsunami of threats” to Tanya Gersh and her relatives. Gersh is a Montana real estate agent who fell out of favor with the mother of Richard B. Spencer, a leader of the altright movement.
Anglin is accused in court papers of invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the federal anti-intimidation act.
“Mr. Anglin turned his horde of anti- Semitic fanatics loose on Ms. Gersh in a series of Daily Stormer articles,” according to the lawsuit, co-filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) civil rights advocacy group. “These articles caused his followers to overwhelm Ms. Gersh with hundreds of hateful and threatening anti-Semitic phone calls, voicemails, text messages, emails, letters, social media comments and false online business reviews.”
The campaign against Gersh began in December 2016 when Anglin wrote an article that said, “Let’s hit-em up! Are y’all ready for an old-fashioned troll storm? Because AYO (hey you) — it’s that time, fam.” Anglin provided phone numbers, email addresses and links to social media profiles for Gersh, her son, friends and colleagues, and he told his minions, “Tell them you are sickened by their Jew agenda,” according to the lawsuit. Anglin’s postings included photographs of Gersh, her husband and son. One was altered to include a yellow Star of David with the label “Jude” — an allusion to the emblem the Nazi regime required Jews to wear during World War II, according to the SPLC.
Gersh’s son received a tweet with the image of an open oven and the message: “Psst kid, theres a free Xbox One inside this oven.” The family received phone calls that contained only the sound of gunshots, the SPLC said.
The campaign escalated to the point that Anglin planned an armed march in Montana that he threatened would end at Gersh’s home, the SPLC said. He promoted the march, which never materialized, with an image that superimposed Gersh, her son and two other Jewish residents on a picture of the front gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp, according to the SPLC.
Plaintiff ’s attorney John Morrison said, “There’s no place in Montana for the hate Andrew Anglin unleashed from the darkest corners of the Internet. The attack on Tanya Gersh was an attack on all of us.”
An email to Anglin was not immediately returned.
A monetary figure has not been attached to the suit, although Gersh hopes to win at least $225,000 for three of the four counts asserted in the complaint.
Anglin’s initial article urging his followers to “take action” followed a real estate squabble between Gersh and Whitefish, Mont., business owner Sherry Spencer, the mother of Richard Spencer. According to the lawsuit, Whitefish residents’ “discontent with the Spencer family had been simmering for years and reached a fever pitch” recently.
Some members of the Whitefish community considered protesting in front of a mixed-use commercial building that Sherry Spencer owns in town.
Talk of boycotting Sherry Spencer’s business quickly circulated through Whitefish and surrounding communities, leading to a conversation between her and Gersh regarding her business. Gersh suggested that Spencer make a public sign of goodwill and disavowal of her son’s beliefs. According to the lawsuit, Sherry Spencer asked Gersh for help drafting a statement about selling her property.
After further discussion, Gersh and Spencer decided Gersh would not be a part of the sale and, according to the civil complaint, this is the last communication between the two.
About two weeks later, on Dec. 15, Sherry Spencer published a post on Medium, in which she described the interaction as threatening on Gersh’s part. She painted Gersh as an agent of human rights organizations such as Love Lives Here and the Montana Human Rights Network.
“I had no intention of selling ... until I started receiving terrible threats in the last couple of weeks,” Spencer wrote, alleging threats by Gersh.
The next day, Anglin’s post appeared on the Daily Stormer, accusing Gersh of “extorting ” Spencer.
Lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center Andrew Anglin “turned his horde of anti-Semitic fanatics loose on Ms. Gersh.”