DeSantis judge appointee address showed up in a giant leak of Data that happened in the EU last week. This data exposed the clientele list and their addresses for a business that sells Nazi propaganda and supports Neo-Nazi groups across Europe.
According to the Judge's 24 year old son......he is taking responsibility for the purchases and confirmed that he was buying Neo Nazi Memorabilia and shipping it to his fathers house. His Father has declined to Comment.
A24-year-old man who is the son of a Florida judge purchased a T-shirt supporting a Greek neo-Nazi political party, according to a Raw Story analysis of data leaked from an online store that distributes racist music.
Stephen Whyte of Bradenton, Fla., confirmed to Raw Story that he purchased a Golden Dawn shirt from the online store Midgård in October 2020. The purchase was made only weeks after a Greek court convicted high-ranking members of the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, of attempted murder and other crimes.
Stephen Whyte’s father, Matt Whyte, is a circuit court judge in Manatee County, on Florida’s west coast south of Tampa. The leaked customer registry indicates that Stephen Whyte used his parents’ home address to order the T-shirt.
“This is his son. I ordered the T-shirt in 2020,” Stephen Whyte confirmed in a phone text message to Raw Story.
After confirming that he bought the Golden Dawn T-shirt in a phone text to Raw Story, Stephen Whyte did not respond to subsequent voicemails and texts seeking an explanation for the purchase.
Matt Whyte, who hears felony criminal cases in Manatee County, declined to comment through a court spokesperson.
“As a general practice, no judge answers questions about anything because someone will find it and say, ‘You can’t preside over this case because you’re biased,’” said Donna Rhodes, the public information officer for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Manatee County. “Judges need to remain neutral. Because they’re neutral, no one should know their opinion on anything…. The less somebody knows about judges, the better it is. Nobody can say they’re biased.”
Whyte was appointed to the bench in 2019 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and ran unopposed in a nonpartisan election to keep his position in 2022.
The leak last week by AFA Sweden, an anonymous anti-fascist group, made public the names, addresses and phone numbers of thousands of customers of the online shop Midgård, which is based in Sweden.
The manifest includes thousands of customers in the United States who mostly bought recordings of racist bands that play hardcore punk and NSBM, or national socialist black metal. At least one customer purchased an English-language edition of Mein Kampf, the autobiographical manifesto of Adolf Hitler.
The blue Golden Dawn T-shirt displayed on the Midgård website advertises the item as a way to show support for the neo-Nazi group while pledging that profits from the T-shirt sales go “directly to Golden Dawn in Greece.”
Stephen Whyte bought the shirt on Oct. 14, 2020, according to the leaked information. His purchase came a week after NPR and other news organizations reported that Golden Dawn was declared to be a criminal organization by a Greek court, and that 68 party members were convicted of crimes that included murder and attempted murder.
The neo-Nazi party took third place in Greece’s parliamentary elections in 2015 by riding a wave of discontent over the government’s handling of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Supporters of ultra nationalist party Golden Dawn hold party flag and Greek flag as they demonstrate on February 1, 2014 in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/ Getty Images)
But by 2019, revelations about its track record of atrocities, including a near-fatal assault on Egyptian fishermen by Golden Dawn members, and the murder of Pavlos Fyssas — a rapper, hip-hop promoter and antiracist campaigner who performed under the name Killah P — caught up with Golden Dawn. Voters roundly rejected the party in 2019, and during the following year, party leaders found themselves facing long prison sentences.
It’s not clear whether Whyte is involved in neo-Nazi activity beyond his apparent support for Golden Dawn, and it is also not clear whether he still lives with his parents. According to his Facebook page, he enrolled at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, in 2017, but it’s unknown whether he was awarded a degree.
Beginning in December 2019, his Facebook page lists his occupation as “professional poker player,” and a social media post shows him working in his grandparents’ Greek restaurant in December 2020. The restaurant closed last year.
According to the Judge's 24 year old son......he is taking responsibility for the purchases and confirmed that he was buying Neo Nazi Memorabilia and shipping it to his fathers house. His Father has declined to Comment.
DeSantis appointed Florida judge’s son is a neo-Nazi patron
A24-year-old man who is the son of a Florida judge purchased a T-shirt supporting a Greek neo-Nazi political party, according to a Raw Story analysis of data leaked from an online store that distributes racist music.
Stephen Whyte of Bradenton, Fla., confirmed to Raw Story that he purchased a Golden Dawn shirt from the online store Midgård in October 2020. The purchase was made only weeks after a Greek court convicted high-ranking members of the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, of attempted murder and other crimes.
Stephen Whyte’s father, Matt Whyte, is a circuit court judge in Manatee County, on Florida’s west coast south of Tampa. The leaked customer registry indicates that Stephen Whyte used his parents’ home address to order the T-shirt.
“This is his son. I ordered the T-shirt in 2020,” Stephen Whyte confirmed in a phone text message to Raw Story.
After confirming that he bought the Golden Dawn T-shirt in a phone text to Raw Story, Stephen Whyte did not respond to subsequent voicemails and texts seeking an explanation for the purchase.
Matt Whyte, who hears felony criminal cases in Manatee County, declined to comment through a court spokesperson.
“As a general practice, no judge answers questions about anything because someone will find it and say, ‘You can’t preside over this case because you’re biased,’” said Donna Rhodes, the public information officer for the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Manatee County. “Judges need to remain neutral. Because they’re neutral, no one should know their opinion on anything…. The less somebody knows about judges, the better it is. Nobody can say they’re biased.”
Whyte was appointed to the bench in 2019 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and ran unopposed in a nonpartisan election to keep his position in 2022.
The leak last week by AFA Sweden, an anonymous anti-fascist group, made public the names, addresses and phone numbers of thousands of customers of the online shop Midgård, which is based in Sweden.
The manifest includes thousands of customers in the United States who mostly bought recordings of racist bands that play hardcore punk and NSBM, or national socialist black metal. At least one customer purchased an English-language edition of Mein Kampf, the autobiographical manifesto of Adolf Hitler.
The blue Golden Dawn T-shirt displayed on the Midgård website advertises the item as a way to show support for the neo-Nazi group while pledging that profits from the T-shirt sales go “directly to Golden Dawn in Greece.”
Stephen Whyte bought the shirt on Oct. 14, 2020, according to the leaked information. His purchase came a week after NPR and other news organizations reported that Golden Dawn was declared to be a criminal organization by a Greek court, and that 68 party members were convicted of crimes that included murder and attempted murder.
The neo-Nazi party took third place in Greece’s parliamentary elections in 2015 by riding a wave of discontent over the government’s handling of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Supporters of ultra nationalist party Golden Dawn hold party flag and Greek flag as they demonstrate on February 1, 2014 in Athens, Greece. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/ Getty Images)
But by 2019, revelations about its track record of atrocities, including a near-fatal assault on Egyptian fishermen by Golden Dawn members, and the murder of Pavlos Fyssas — a rapper, hip-hop promoter and antiracist campaigner who performed under the name Killah P — caught up with Golden Dawn. Voters roundly rejected the party in 2019, and during the following year, party leaders found themselves facing long prison sentences.
It’s not clear whether Whyte is involved in neo-Nazi activity beyond his apparent support for Golden Dawn, and it is also not clear whether he still lives with his parents. According to his Facebook page, he enrolled at State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, in 2017, but it’s unknown whether he was awarded a degree.
Beginning in December 2019, his Facebook page lists his occupation as “professional poker player,” and a social media post shows him working in his grandparents’ Greek restaurant in December 2020. The restaurant closed last year.