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Backgrounder and counter-terrorist financing options. In this post, I explore the financing mechanisms used by Atomwaffen Division and the new iteration of the group, National Socialist Order. Both AWD and NSO, as well as James Mason, one of the ideological leaders of AWD, are all listed terrorist entities in Canada. Like many ideologically-motivated violent extremist groups, AWD is largely self-funded by its members, and uses its funds for low-complexity attacks. The group also raises some funds through propaganda sales, but how these funds are used, stored, and managed, remains unclear. Counter-terrorist financing options are limited due to the group’s financial (and networked) structure, but financial intelligence and financial exclusion practices are likely to yield the greatest results against the group and subsequent iterations of the group and its members. (…) Atomwaffen Division (AWD) is a neo-Nazi terrorist group founded in the United States in 2015.  In 2020, the group announced that it was disbanding, although shortly thereafter members of the group created the National Socialist Order (NSO), which is widely considered to be the same entity. In 2019, there were approximately 60-80 members of AWD and a smaller number of “initiates”; however, AWD/NSO uses a decentralized cell structure, so estimates of actual membership vary₁. AWD has offshoots or associated cells in several countries including Germany (Feuerkrieg Division)₂ , the UK (Sonnenkrieg Division – although the exact nature of the relationship between the groups is debated), Poland, Canada, Czech Republic, Ukraine₃, and Russia. AWD originally organized online, mostly through Discord (a communications platform), and while there is no publicly available information suggesting that the group raised money through Discord, the platform does provide the ability for users to generate funds through private servers, advertisements, donations, and sponsorship.  
Most of the AWD/NSO funding likely comes from members’ self-financing. For instance, AWD member William James Tschantre cashed in $3,000 of savings and quit his fast-food job before purchasing a pair of rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The group might also use propaganda sales to support some aspects of its organization as well as some of its members. For instance, AWD has used Amazon CreateSpace to sell propaganda₄, and AWD has sold merchandise including t-shirts, mugs, books, and according to information provided by Canada to the Financial Action Task Force, the group has used some of these funds to support other members accused of crimes₅.

via journal-exit: Atomwaffen Division Financing

Sie werden verdächtigt, dass sie einen Blackout auslösen und im entstehenden Chaos Entführungen und einen Putsch durchziehen wollten: Die beiden mutmaßlichen Anführer der “Vereinten Patrioten” verbindet eine Vergangenheit bei der Nationalen Volksarmee, zeigen Recherchen von t-online. Ein Bild zeigt einen Soldaten der Nationalen Volksarmee, ein anderes den Schriftzug “Wir Deutschen Fuerchten Gott/Sonst nichts auf der Welt”, ein Zitat von Otto von Bismarck. Beide Bilder sind aus dem Telegram-Profil eines Mannes, der früher NVA-Offizier war und Deutschland mutmaßlich zurück in die Zeit sprengen will, als die Bismarck’sche Reichsverfassung galt. Der Mann heißt Sven B. und ist einer der Köpfe der “Vereinten Patrioten”. t-online hat sich auf die Spuren der Gruppe gemacht, die verdächtigt wird, dass sie einen Blackout in Deutschland auslösen, Gesundheitsminister Karl Lauterbach entführen und putschen wollte. Frühere Soldaten mit Russlandnähe spielen die Hauptrolle. (…) Fast zur gleichen Zeit war im Telegram-Kanal “Tag X” ein zwei Jahre altes Video geteilt worden, das aus heutiger Sicht wie eine Blaupause wirkt: Mit einer Graphitbombe an einem Umspannwerk lasse sich durch Kurzschlüsse dort und eine Kettenreaktion das komplette Stromnetz lahmlegen. “Militärisch gesehen eine super Geschichte”, heißt es im Video. Der Blackout lief als “Silent Night” “Silent Night” nannten die Verschwörer diesen Teil des Vorhabens laut Ermittlern – weil alles dunkel ist und vieles stillsteht. Die “Stille Nacht” sollte demnach der Auftakt für die weiteren Pläne sein: Prominente entführen, der Name Karl Lauterbach fiel. Dann eine neue Regierung installieren. Der möglichst mehrwöchige Stromausfall sollte großes Chaos und Unruhen schaffen und so die Erfolgsaussichten eines Umsturzes verbessern. (…) Als Sven B. ein Foto seiner Medaille als NVA-Veteran postete, lag die auch auf einem Georgsband. Die Sympathiebekundung könnte ein anderes Rätsel lösen. In vielen Medien wird berichtet, dass er Sven Georg B. heißt, er selbst nutzt auch den Nutzername @Georg_im_Widerstand. Nur: Der Vorname Georg ist nicht eingetragen. Er hat nur den Vornamen Sven. Von der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft heißt es, für die Ermittlungen würden bislang weder die Bezüge zu der putinfreundlichen Szene und zu früheren dilettantischen Umsturzversuchen noch der militärische Hintergrund der Beschuldigten eine Rolle spielen. Er könnte aber für die Ermittler Anlass gewesen sein, den Verdacht sehr ernst zu nehmen.  Die Bedeutung der Vernetzung offline spielte immer wieder eine große Rolle in den Chats. Dafür nutzte Sven B. mit seinem Umfeld auch das Hochwasser an der Ahr, Veteranen richteten einen Stützpunkt in einer Schule ein. Tatsächlich lobten Anwohner auch die Hilfe, interne Chats lassen aber Zweifel zu, ob es nur ums Helfen ging. Sicherheitschef und Leiter vor Ort war ein Verantwortlicher der Thüringer Veteranen aus Eisenach. Auch dort wurde jetzt durchsucht. 

via t-online: “Vereinte Patrioten” – Das Staatsstreichkommando von der NVA

The self-proclaimed leader of Michigan-based white supremacist group, The Base, accused of threatening a Dexter family two years ago, has taken a plea deal. Justen Watkins pleaded guilty Monday, April 18, to one felony count of gang membership for his role in the group which is accused of terrorizing a family in Dexter in December 2019 after mistaking their home for the home of a podcaster who speaks out against white supremacists. In pleading guilty, his additional counts of unlawfully posting a message and using a computer to commit a crime will be dismissed at sentencing. Watkins, 25, Bad Axe, and codefendant Alfred Gorman, 35, of Taylor, both waived their preliminary examinations in October 2021, sending their cases to trial. Gorman pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to one felony count of gang membership and was sentenced to four years of probation and to spend one year working alongside a University of Michigan professor of Ethnic Studies. Michigan hate group member sentenced to work with ethnic studies professor, avoids jail time. The Base, founded in 2018, is a white supremacy group that openly advocates for violence and criminal acts against the U.S., and purports to be training for a race war to establish white ethno-nationalist rule in areas of the U.S., including Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office which is prosecuting the case. The group also traffics in Nazi ideology and extreme anti-Semitism, at one point requiring its members to read neo-Nazi books that urge the collapse of Western civilization.

via mlive: Michigan white supremacist group leader pleads guilty to gang membership

The messages could strengthen a theory being explored by the House committee that January 6 included a coordinated assault. Top leaders in the Oath Keepers militia group indicted on seditious conspiracy charges over the Capitol attack had contacts with the Proud Boys and a figure in the Stop the Steal movement and may also have been in touch with the Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, newly released text messages show. The texts – which indicate the apparent ease with which Oath Keepers messaged Proud Boys – could strengthen a theory being explored by the House January 6 committee and the US justice department: that the Capitol attack included a coordinated assault. Oath Keepers text messages released in a court filing on Monday night showed members of the group were in direct communication with the Proud Boys leader Enqrique Tarrio in the days before the Capitol attack. (…) That close relationship is certain to be of interest to the House committee as it zeroes in on whether the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys coordinated an attack on the Capitol in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden’s election win over Donald Trump. As the Guardian first reported, the committee has amassed deep evidence of connections between the far-right groups which could play a role in establishing whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy as part of his attempt to hold on to power. The newly released text messages also show a new link between the Oath Keepers and an unnamed figure from the Stop the Steal movement, which has ties to the pro-Trump operative Roger Stone and to Ali Alexander, a prominent Trump ally and activist. (…) The Oath Keepers text messages also show a connection to Ronny Jackson that allowed one of its members to learn that the Texas congressman – Trump’s former White House doctor – needed protection as the Capitol attack unfolded. The potential connection between the Oath Keepers and a Republican member of Congress could mark a new investigatory direction for the committee and the justice department: whether Jackson or others might have had advance knowledge of the Oath Keepers’ plans.

via guardian: Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were in touch before US Capitol attack, texts reveal