A neo-Nazi activist with a history of making inflammatory racial postings on his Roanoke-based Web site faces a possible contempt citation for comments about an attorney involved in a housing discrimination case.

William White could be fined if a federal judge in Norfolk decides to sanction him for the comments -- taken by the attorney as threatening but described by White as satire.

White was named recently in court documents related to the case of John Crockett Henry, a Virginia Beach landlord charged with violating the federal Fair Housing Act by using racial slurs against his black tenants and subjecting them to restrictions, such as curfews, that he did not apply to white tenants.

Although White had no apparent involvement in the case, he inserted himself into the controversy last May by sending letters to some of the plaintiffs, calling them n------ and taking issue with their lawsuit against Henry, according to court records.

That led attorneys for the plaintiffs to subpoena computer records from White, which then led White to turn his attention to one of the lawyers, Kevin Mottley of the Richmond law firm Troutman Sanders.

In February, White logged on to an Internet forum frequented by white supremacists and directed his "comrades" in the movement not to harass Mottley or his wife in the following ways: by calling them at a home number he listed in the posting, by going to a home address that he also listed or by sending them "hate fliers" or nooses in the mail.

White prefaced his admonition by saying: "After we are done with our legal dispute, they are open game."

At a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Mottley testified that he perceived White's actions to be a threat, or at least encouragement to others to do what he told them not to do. Mottley said he began to receive strange calls after the posting and that his wife is now afraid to leave their home.

White, the self-described "commander" of the American National Socialist Workers' Party, said his organization does not tolerate illegal actions. Some postings on his Web site, which have called for the killing of blacks and human rights advocates, are meant as satire, he testified.

"I don't see how you can take that other than as a joke," he said of some of his postings.

White's attorney, Harry Brown of Roanoke, did not return calls Thursday. In court papers, Brown argued that White's comments about Mottley were well within the bounds of the law.

"Although White's words appear despicable, hateful, rude, and vengeful, and even though White's words may appear racially motivated, and morally wrong, nevertheless, White's conduct was not prohibited or illegal," Brown wrote in court papers.

White declined to comment in detail Thursday, except to say: "There's absolutely no chance that we will be sanctioned."

An assistant U.S. attorney said in court papers that while White's behavior amounted to a threat, sanctions are not proper because he did not misbehave in court or violate a court order. The better remedy, the government said, would be an injunction prohibiting White from making additional threats.

But in asking the court to recommend sanctions and a possible fine, Mottley's fellow attorneys at Troutman Sanders are citing what they call White's history of making threats and disturbing comments, including his praise for the murder of a federal judge in 2005.

"This is a case in which the very temple of justice has been defiled by ... a man who has no respect for this Court, its authority, its mandate or its officers," a brief filed by Troutman Sanders stated.

Jason Manning, an attorney with the law firm, said Thursday that it's too soon to say whether White will be called as a witness or play another role in the housing discrimination case against Henry, which is scheduled to go to trial in May. By subpoenaing White's computer records, attorneys were trying to determine his involvement in the case when the current dispute arose.

White, a Roanoke landlord, has been called possibly "the loudest and most obnoxious neo-Nazi leader in America" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based organization that monitors hate groups.

In perhaps his most publicized controversy, White used his Web site in August to post the names and addresses of the defendants in the Jena Six case, a racially charged assault proceeding in Jena, La. Next to the black defendants' contact information, White posted the words: "Lynch the Jena 6."

Although the FBI said at the time that it was investigating White's actions, no legal action has been taken against him in connection with the Jena Six case.

The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot contributed information to this report.