Neo Byzantium
The far-right cult set up to drain its members' bank accounts
Among the most concerning of Human Diversity Foundation’s (HDF) projects is a private club. Called Neo Byzantium, a reference to the besieged outpost of western civilisation, it is a secret group designed to operate as a money-making members organisation that exploits the isolation of lonely young men. It is led by Erik Ahrens and Matthew Frost, who have taken inspiration from Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer, and the Church of Scientology.
Neo Byzantium was announced, in veiled form, at a speech given by Edward Dutton and Erik Ahrens on 13th October 2023. It was hosted by Scyldings — a Gen Z far-right conference network — at the Little Ship Club in central London. Fans of Dutton’s books and social media channels attended. Ahrens, who called himself “Mr Schmitt”, introduced the event and appealed for volunteers who wanted to build Neo Byzantium with him.
He said:
“The whole western world is lacking a truly elite system and so the organisation which Ed and I are working with is taking more concrete steps towards the establishment of such an elite. We’re doing this partly through media outreach, partly through showing up to events like this and talking to people on the ground and also partly through networking which is taking place more behind the scenes.”
Ahrens invited people to scan a QR code and ask to apply. What exactly they were applying for was left deliberately unclear.
The following month, Erik Ahrens and Matthew Frost told our undercover reporter that they had 36 applications, 18 of which were vetted with a phone call, leading to a total of six “high-quality leads”. Among them were a South African tech entrepreneur, an Australian finance worker, and a Conservative MP’s parliamentary researcher.
Each of the applicants to Neo Byzantium expressed feelings of loneliness and atomisation. “I wish I had others to talk to” was the quote that Ahrens and Frost chose to highlight on a slide deck presented to our undercover reporter in November 2023. “I don’t recall talking to anyone who didn’t say that,” Ahrens said. “Everyone who attends the events is looking for community.”
Neo Byzantium does not offer the community so craved by its members. Rather, it was conceived of as a “multi-level marketing” scheme in which recruits would incentivise their friends to join and be forever upsold on more expensive, exclusive forms of membership. The cost of joining Neo Byzantium was set at £650, although higher tiers were suggested at £5,000.
Recruits believed they were joining an exciting, underground organisation where they would meet important figures in the intellectual far-right. Once accepted, they would be able to spend hundreds of pounds on secret events at which high profile far-right activists like Ed Dutton, Neema Parvini, and Thomas Rowsell would attend. When conversations were taking place with our undercover reporter in December 2023, 12 members had so far joined.
In preparing to launch Neo Byzantium, Ahrens and Frost studied the marketing techniques of Andrew Tate, whose “Hustlers University” programme has attracted more than 100,000 young men who pay a £40 monthly fee to access an online community, offering discounts and benefits to those who enlist friends. “He is not our main source of inspiration but it is a working business model,” Ahrens explained. He has also studied cult-management techniques developed by the Church of Scientology, which encourages members to “disconnect” from their families.
Potential recruits to Neo Byzantium are put through a disorienting, destabilising application. Ahrens interviews them pretending to be ”Mr Schmitt”, which he describes as a “cold” persona. The purpose is to root out potential infiltrators and begin the indoctrination process. During the interviews, applicants are asked, “What do you believe about race?” Ahrens explained to our undercover reporter that they are looking for young men who are ideologically aligned and yet sufficiently submissive that they will not question or tease Mr Schmitt’s icy demeanour.
Successful applicants are sent an Android phone, wrapped up in a neat black box, that has been preloaded with a secure messaging app. That app has just one contact, listed as “Org”. After several days, the team will call the new recruit, during which they are told about a private event they can pay to attend. “You have to work a little bit with smoke and mirrors to get these people engaged so that they pay for it,” Ahrens explained.
Although Neo Byzantium was in its infancy when our undercover reporter learned about it, the leadership is already enforcing cult-like conditions upon members. One technique is to tell people that events have sold out and applicants have been put on a waiting list which does not actually exist. Ahrens further described how he was trying to separate new recruits from sceptical friends by giving them exciting opportunities, like an internship with the underground research team of HDF, or an all-expenses paid trip to Athens, where they would stay in a plush hotel overlooking the Parthenon. “This is how we break up that bond,” Ahrens told our undercover reporter.
Frost responded to our request for comment saying that the “gentlemen’s club” was entirely independent of HDF. However, it appears on presentation slides clearly labelled as a Human Diversity Foundation project.
Ahrens further outlined a plan to isolate one new member from his social circle and academic prospects so he can devote himself to Neo Byzantium. “I want to keep him busy, keep him occupied, so that he’s really giving a lot of time and energy to foreclose all these other options,” Ahrens said. He furthermore described his ambition to turn the members of Neo Byzantium against each other, so they would feel insecure in their positions within the group. He said he had been indeterminately rewarding new recruits, inviting one young man on a trip to Spain and another to Greece to provoke envy between them. “We have to control everything,” Ahrens said. “We need to keep people on edge and emotionally engaged like this. A little bit of paranoia makes the world more comfy. It’s more comfortable inside when you think there's a werewolf walking around outside.”
He added: “We are acting in good faith. Some of this stuff, I'm aware, sounds quite manipulative. But who are we fighting against? We’re fighting against extremely manipulative systems. It’s not us who made these rules.”
Ahrens, in a statement to HOPE not hate, did not specifically dispute any of the facts or inferences we put to him.