Austin Martin’s Last Post on the LNC List?

Subject: “Broader Context: How We Got Here. My Last Post?” · Thursday, October 8, 2026, 4:52 p.m. UTC

Aloha, everyone!

As you may already be aware, this could be my last public post.

I want to use this opportunity to lay out the big picture context as best I can, given the time-crunch and adverse circumstances. I wish I could dedicate more time just to documenting this remarkable series of events, but the press of events is real — and writing about them is easy to put off.

I know nearly enough to know I don't know nearly enough.

This is the story of how we got here, as I understand it.

LNC Timeline: 2013 to October 2026

Background (2013 to 2024)

2013 to 2017. Pierre-Alexandre Crevaux, a French national, manages local Libertarian campaigns in Miami-Dade, starting with Marcos Miralles's 2013 Hialeah council race. He later serves as Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Miami-Dade County and as chief of staff to Libertarian Party of Florida (LPF) Chair Miralles.

2018. Crevaux moves to Georgia and joins the Administration of the President of Georgia as a communications specialist.

2019. The FEC finds reason to believe that Crevaux, the LPF and its Miami-Dade affiliate violated the foreign national ban (MUR 7320). Steven Nekhaila, then LPF Treasurer, receives notice. The case closes in 2022 with no further action.

Dec. 2020. Georgia's libertarian party Girchi, founded by lawmakers who left the United National Movement (UNM) in 2015, splits after a leadership dispute. Founder Zurab Japaridze leaves the original party, which stays under Iago Khvichia, and forms Girchi – More Freedom. Its international relations officer, Tinatin Bolokadze, serves in the IALP.

2023. Crevaux serves as a foreign policy liaison to the UNM-led opposition faction in Georgia's parliament. In July he becomes UNM's Deputy Director for Foreign Affairs. UNM came to power after Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and governed until 2012.

July 2023. McArdle proposes Austin Padgett, her domestic partner, to the EPCC by name. Nekhaila, as EPCC chair, interviews him.

Spring 2024. Beth Vest files a derivative suit against McArdle. Caryn Ann Harlos later files a second, and the two are consolidated.

May 25 to 26, 2024. Donald Trump addresses the Libertarian National Convention in Washington and gets severely mixed reactions. McArdle is re-elected Chair, and Chase Oliver is nominated for President.

July 11, 2024. The LNC enters a joint fundraising agreement with the Kennedy campaign, the Kennedy Victory Fund.

Oct. 26 to Dec. 29, 2024. The Reverse Rose Revolution. Georgian Dream is declared the winner of Georgia's parliamentary election. President Salome Zourabichvili and the opposition, including UNM, call the vote fraudulent, and mass protests follow. Crevaux, as a UNM spokesperson, tells ABC News the result cannot be legitimate. On Dec. 29 Zourabichvili leaves the presidential palace, still claiming to be the legitimate president, as Georgian Dream's Mikheil Kavelashvili is sworn in.

Nov. 5, 2024. Trump is elected President.

Dec. 2024. The LP Alliance forms. Its private channel begins researching state conventions, and an organizer proposes using Mises Caucus data "against them."

January to August 2025

Jan. 21. Jake Porter publishes his investigation tying Freedom Calls LLC, paid more than $45,000 by the LNC, to Padgett.

Jan. 23. A motion by Travis Bost to form an investigatory committee on McArdle goes to ballot. Nekhaila is named to the proposed committee.

Jan. 24 to 25. McArdle resigns under intense internal pressure and threats, as the board votes on the motion. Officially she cited a new job opportunity as the basis for her resignation. LNC Counsel Hall purportedly consulted her on matters relating to her resignation.

Feb. 2. Nekhaila is elected Chair 9-6 over Michael Heise, McArdle's recommended successor. The Jan. 23 committee is dropped, and the board instead forms a Special Investigatory Committee with a broader scope. Nekhaila sits on it reporting no conflicts with others clearly tainted by the appearance of conflicts.

Apr. 6. Nekhaila nominates Crevaux as the LNC's liaison to the IALP.

May. Martin is elected a Region 1 Alternate.

May 17 to 18. At Martin's first LNC meeting, in Grand Rapids, LNC counsel Oliver Hall addresses the board and explains his "special relationship" with McArdle as a past attorney-client relationship. He has not obtained her consent before advising the LNC against her. A proposal to route members' contact with counsel through the Chair is under consideration.

June 9. The SIC finds a suit against McArdle is not in the LNC's best interest, with a maximum recovery of $49,600. The board adopts the report 11-2, with Martin and Chadderdon dissenting.

July 6. Kyle Davis writes that Nekhaila introduced him and Amanda Griffiths to Crevaux. Griffiths confirms it.

Aug. 10. The noticed amendment routing members' contact with counsel through the Chair is struck without objection.

Aug. 11 to 12. Martin calls the SIC report fraud on X. The next day the Chair accuses him of breaching ethics and fiduciary duty.

Aug. 16. The Chair declines Nick Sarwark's proposal to put the LNC in Beth Vest's place as plaintiff. He copies Hall.

Aug. 24. The board adopts Resolution 2, directing it to explore fundraising or pro bono counsel for any recovery from McArdle.

Aug. 26. The Chair bars Martin from contacting Hall outside formal party business and warns of a motion to revoke his list privileges.

Aug. 26 to 30. An out-of-state membership surge and remote credentialing push attempt a takeover of LPHI's Hilo convention. Kelly Nguyen publishes a report on LPHI and Martin on Aug. 29, and LNC insiders circulate it. On Aug. 30 Martin rules remote participation out of order under LPHI's bylaws and is re-elected unopposed.

Aug. 29. Chadderdon joins Martin's whistleblower complaint concerning counsel.

September to December 2025

Early Sept. Hall offers pro bono help on New Mexico, with Chadderdon and NM Chair Dereck Scott present. The condition is that Region 1 stay off the litigation.

Sept. 5. Martin asks Hall for a copy of his LNC contract.

Sept. 5 to 6. The Chair cuts off Martin's LNC email and conditions its restoration on pre-screening of Martin's posts by At-Large Representative Sam Bohler. The board discusses the suspension the next day.

Sept. 7. The board votes 14-0 to cover expenses for pro bono counsel in New Mexico, capped at $5,000.

Sept. 11. Georgian authorities detain Levan Khabeishvili, chair of UNM's political council.

Sept. 18. Martin files an ethics complaint against Treasurer Bill Redpath, an SIC member, for undisclosed conflicts.

Sept. 20. Crevaux is named regional coordinator of Renaissance, French President Emmanuel Macron's party, for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Late Sept. Region 1 keeps its complaints open. Hall tells the board Martin is acting in bad faith and withdraws the offer in writing, and the withdrawal leaks.

Sept. 28 and Oct. 1. The Chair blames the loss on Martin and Chadderdon's "harassment of our legal counsel." He later puts the loss at $20,000.

Oct. 1. The board censures Martin 8-2-2 over his posts about removing socialist infiltrators from the party.

Oct. 4. On Georgia's local election day, which UNM boycotts, protesters try to force entry to the presidential palace and are dispersed.

Oct. 12. The Executive Committee forms a New Mexico Litigation Committee. A motion to seat the Region 1 reps is amended down, and Chadderdon is struck 4-1.

Oct. 24. The Vest suit is dismissed without prejudice on the LNC's own motion.

Nov. 6. Georgian prosecutors announce sabotage and related charges against eight opposition leaders, including Saakashvili and Japaridze.

Dec. 5. The Chair sends McArdle a demand for just under $50,000.

Dec. 6. The board declines to fund McArdle litigation. A $65,000 motion gets no second.

Dec. 7. The Executive Committee expands the litigation committee to cover McArdle.

January to May 2026

Jan. 27. Nekhaila is elected the Libertarian Party's representative to the IALP.

Feb. 16. Martin notifies the board of an apparent breach of its membership data. An LP Alliance figure writing on Liberty Sentries as John Ponty has published claims drawn from member records, including pledge data, that Martin never signed the membership pledge, along with convention allocation figures.

Feb. 19. Secretary Evan McMahon tells the board there is no sign of a hack and that an authorized user may have disclosed the data.

Feb. 26. The IALP announces new leadership under Jaroslav Romanchuk.

Mar. 14. Davis demands LPHI's membership list. LPHI refuses.

Mar. 16 to 19. The Executive Committee approves three retainers, including New Mexico trademark counsel and a McArdle suit. On Chadderdon's point of order, the Chair rules those two beyond its budget authority.

Mar. 26 and Apr. 1. Region 1 files the Euro-Influence Dossier and a whistleblower supplement, including Davis's admission that he downloaded the database.

Apr. 6 to 7. The Chair writes that Hall "retracted" his offer. Litigation committee chair Vinson meets in closed session with Chris Luchini, the opposing party in the New Mexico case. LP Alliance figures openly back Luchini's side of the dispute.

Apr. 19. The board funds a $10,000 McArdle retainer, 8-6-2.

May 13. A forensic review finds Davis conducted the exports. He declines to attest that the data was destroyed.

May 21. A Georgian court sentences Khabeishvili to two and a half years in prison.

May 24 to 26. McMahon is elected Chair and Griffiths Vice Chair. Scott Horton's unnoticed resolution to disassociate from the IALP wins a majority but falls short of the two-thirds it needed. Nekhaila is not elected at-large, and the new board appoints him to an at-large seat the next day.

June to October 2026

June 6. Sonja Feintech, Region 1 Alternate, joins Martin and Chadderdon's unresolved Ethics Complaint, LNC acknowledges receipt of notice through counsel

June 7. A new Litigation Committee takes over the McArdle matter. No Region 1 member is seated.

June 17. The LNC wins a preliminary injunction in the New Mexico case.

Aug. 2. The board repeals the affiliate open-meeting, equal-voice and notice rules and adds $80,000 for litigation.

Aug. 9. The Executive Committee encumbers $40,000 each for New Mexico and McArdle and approves the draft complaint. Directors who request the draft are refused.

Aug. 13 to 24. McArdle's counsel sends a demand letter on Aug. 13. The full board learns of it 11 days later.

Aug. 17. LNC leadership sends the New Mexico affiliate a demand letter pressing a settlement.

Sept. 3. Davis is seated on the Historical Preservation Committee.

Sept. 4. Martin moves a disclosure resolution.

Sept. 7. The Chair notices a motion for an SIC on Martin.

Sept. 12. LPHI holds its convention and adopts new bylaws and a platform. Luchini joins LPHI at the door, as the bylaws permit, and coordinates on the floor with Nguyen, now an LNC At-Large Representative. The two raise objections to the bylaws revisions together. The same day Nekhaila moves an email ballot to cut off Martin's LNC email. The Chair rules it out of order as a suspension without due process.

Sept. 13. The board appoints the SIC on Martin, with findings due Oct. 15. It also votes to release the breach files to the public.

Sept. 15. Greg Hertzsch nominates Nguyen to the SIC. Martin objects.

Sept. 27. The board elects the SIC by online ballot: McGee, Michelle Wigington and Griffiths from the LNC, and Michael Chianese and Doug Craig from outside it. Nguyen is not elected. Secretary Jonathan McGee, himself a candidate, administers and reports the vote and votes for himself.

Sept. 30. A motion to revoke Martin's public list forwarder goes to email ballot, cosponsored by Nekhaila, Nguyen, Hayse and Thompson. The Chair rules Region 1's objection out of order. Voting closes Oct. 7.

Oct. 1. LNC counsel files suit against McArdle and Padgett in Travis County (D-1-GN-26-009921). The petition pleads $250,000 to $1,000,000 plus exemplary damages.

Oct. 5. Region 1 Alternate Sonja Feintech notes that the $80,000 litigation amendment and both $40,000 encumbrances are missing from the August financial report.

Oct. 6. Martin objects to the McArdle suit for the record, noting the board has not been told of the filing. That evening the Chair circulates the petition. He says he received the file-stamped copy that morning and that the Executive Committee and Litigation Committee saw the draft before filing. He then declines to call an October meeting.

Oct. 6 to 7. Martin sends the board a written demand under D.C. Code § 29-411.03.

Oct. 7. As the forwarder ballot closes, Nekhaila calls MUR 7320 "dropped." Thompson and Leatherman confirm Crevaux was not naturalized in 2017 but dismiss the matter as a $100 donation. The FEC's 2019 finding concerned his role in party management and decision-making.

There is so much more I could say, but this is a factual sequence that the Libertarian Party needs to wrestle with. My door is still open, for those who choose peace and empathy.

Thank you for paying attention, for listening, and for fighting for the Libertarian Party and the beautiful philosophy we stand for. I promise I won't give up fighting for it as we move forward into an uncertain future.

Don't give up.

Much love!

Austin Martin
R1

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