White nationalist icon Richard Spencer is being accused of physical and emotional abuse of his wife, according to court filings obtained by BuzzFeed.Nina Koupriianov’s lawyers alleged in divorce filings in Flathead County District Court in Montana that Spencer physically abused her and made her afraid to call police or seek further protection, according to BuzzFeed. Koupriianov, who married Spencer in 2010, also said in the court filings that their two young children witnessed the alleged abuse.
Koupriianov and Spencer’s lawyers had tried to seal the divorce filings on three different occasions, according to BuzzFeed, but a judge ultimately denied those motions and said they hadn’t brought forward a significant justification for keeping the filings out of the public eye. Spencer told VICE News he and his lawyers would release a statement “momentarily,” but BuzzFeed reported he disputed her allegations in court documents.
Separately, Spencer, 40, is also named in a federal lawsuit accusing two dozen neo-Nazis and white nationalists of organizing the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. The alt-right icon has publicly struggled to pay his own bills, and has been banned from mainstream crowdfunding platforms. Previously, he had been hosting speaking engagements at universities across the country, but those sometimes ended in violence, protests and arrests.According to court documents obtained by BuzzFeed, Spencer’s “controversial public life” has led his “family to be targets of violence.” The couple has been living apart since July 1, 2017.
Koupriianov also alleges that Spencer harmed her, resulting in bruises, and that he once bruised her jaw while she was pregnant.Cover: White nationalist Richard Spencer tries to get students to shout louder as they clash during a speech Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, at the University of Florida in Gainesville. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)