British far right activists are raising money for imprisoned white supremacists who were active in Scotland, using a controversial US Christian crowdfunding platform that allows neo-Nazis to fundraise. GiveSendGo was founded in 2014 to fundraise “for missionary trips, medical expenses for needy families, and other charitable causes”. But the American crowdfunder has been condemned for facilitating far-right actors banned from other platforms. The Ferret analysed more than 6,000 projects listed on GiveSendGo in June and July and identified 96 UK campaigns. We found there are campaigns on the platform for white supremacists, rapists, murderers, conspiracy theorists and far-right influencers. Together these campaigns have raised around £180,000. They include campaigns for white supremacists James Costello and Sam Melia, who are both serving prison sentences for inciting racial hatred. (…) Melia – once linked to the banned neo-Nazi terror group, National Action – was jailed for two years in March after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred, with the judge branding him an “antisemite” with “Nazi sympathies”. He was the Yorkshire organiser for Patriotic Alternative, and head of the Hundred-Handers, an anonymous group responsible for posting racist stickers. The prosecution said these were key signs evidencing Melia’s ideology and highlighted his desire to spread his racist views in a deliberate manner. (…) The campaign for Melia was created by “Mark Collett”, the name of Patriotic Alternative’s controversial leader. It had raised £67,308 at time of writing. James Costello is a former member of Patriotic Alternative. He called himself the “Reverend” and was a leading figure in a white supremacist group called Creativity Movement. He was jailed last November for five years for racist offences including a “call to arms against black and Jewish people”. As part of the case against Costello, the Crown Prosecution Service used evidence to show his connections with convicted terrorists, including National Action member Jack Renshaw, who was jailed for life in 2019 for planning to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper (…) Other individuals on the site include someone trying to raise money for a group supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory. QAnon is a conspiracy theory that claiming former US president Donald Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media. In 2021 it was reported by The Guardian that a data breach at GiveSendGo revealed millions of dollars had been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms. They included the Proud Boys, designated as a terrorist group in Canada, many of whose fundraising efforts were directly related to the 6 January attack on the United States Capitol.
via theferret: UK far right raises money for convicted racists on US platform used by neo-Nazis