Neo-Nazi Group NSM Faces New Upheaval After James Hart Stern鈥檚 Death
The leadership of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM) has been thrown into chaos again following the death of self-described civil rights activist James Hart Stern.
Stern died last month following a long battle with bladder cancer. He was 55. A close friend confirmed his death to 听in a Nov. 6 report.
Stern was at the center of a battle for control of NSM. In January, NSM鈥檚 former leader, Jeff Schoep, 听in Michigan handing control of the group over to Stern, a black preacher with a checkered past that included prison time for mail fraud.
Stern met Schoep during a 鈥渞ace summit鈥� the former organized in 2014, the Times said. By 2019, according to the paper, Schoep told Stern he was concerned about NSM being a defendant in a civil lawsuit stemming from the deadly 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one counterprotester, , dead.
But Burt Colucci, the group鈥檚 former chief of staff, reportedly took control of NSM and registered the group in Florida, his home state. Stern then filed a lawsuit in his native California, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars and a ruling barring anyone from interfering in his operation of the group.
Stern鈥檚 death now puts the official leadership of the group in question. A status hearing in Stern鈥檚 lawsuit scheduled for next week has been canceled.
Colucci has insisted that Stern was the group鈥檚 president in name only, according to the . On the NSM website, Schoep wrote on March 6, 鈥淛ames Stern has ABSOLUTELY no legal control or legal standing with the National Socialist Movement.鈥�
Since then, Schoep has publicly renounced his antisemitism and has left NSM. However, lawyers in the Charlottesville lawsuit claim he has employed stalling tactics听to avoid providing documentation in the ongoing case, raising suspicions about his continued loyalty to the group.
For his part, Stern made it clear he took control of the organization to dismantle it, . As soon as he took control of NSM, he .
Stern鈥檚 law firm, Daniels Law, could not be reached for comment. Colucci did not respond to a request for comment.
However, one of Stern鈥檚 attorneys, William Daniels, told 听that his client鈥檚 death doesn鈥檛 end the leadership dispute. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 just not clear to me now how it鈥檚 going to unfold,鈥� Daniels said.
Photo by Philip Cheung for The Washington Post via Getty Images
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