The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was indicted on Tuesday for allegedly engaging in fraud and money laundering when it transferred $3 million in donors' funds to field sources that were leaders and organizers in white supremacist and neo Nazi groups, according to American law enforcement officials.
The operation was meant to advance the extremist organizations that SPLC was supposedly combating so that they could entice more donations.
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. The Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”
The indictment for six counts of wire fraud, four counts of false statements to federally insured banks, and conspiracy to commit concealment of money laundering was rejected by the SPLC the same day as part of a campaign of political persecution and weaponization of state institutions to target opposition.
The SPLC, a civil rights and extremism watchdog and litigation organization, reportedly paid field sources within the groups it monitored and acted against from the 1980s until at least 2023.
The indictment contended that while the SPLC received money from donors under the understanding that it would be used to dismantle extremist groups, the same money was unknowingly used to pay extremists to the benefit of the radicals and their organizations. Some of these funds were allegedly used in the commission of crimes.
One field source allegedly paid $270,000 between 201 and 2023 was a member of the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally online planning group, an event in which marchers chanted "Jews will not replace us." The source allegedly made racist posts under SPLC supervision and helped coordinate transportation for several event participants.
A fundraiser for the neo Nazi National Alliance allegedly served as an SPLC field source for over 20 years, and between 2014 and 2023 was paid a million dollars.
In 2014, the National Alliance member allegedly illegally entered the group's organizations, stole documents, and sold their copies to the SPLC. The documents were used as a basis for an SPLC article, and another field source was paid $,6,000 to take the blame for the theft.
The National Alliance's former chairman, for whom there is an extremist file page on the SPLC website from which the NGO could solicit donations, was allegedly secretly paid over $140,000 between 2016 and 2023. Similarly, a National Socialist Party of America ex-leader, Aryan Nations faction ex-director, and Ku Klux Klan ex-member was paid $70,000 between 2014 and 2016 while there was an SPLC webpage on them.
An officer in the National Socialist Movement and Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club was allegedly secretly paid over $300,000 by the SPLC between 2014 and 2020, and the American Front national president and convicted cross-burner was allegedly paid $19,000 between 2016 and 2019.
A KKK member and spouse to a KKK Exalted Cyclops was allegedly paid $3,500 by the SPLC as the pair were involved in litigation to allow the white supremacist group to participate in the Adopt a Highway program.
SPLC also accused of funneling funds to radical leaders
The SPLC was also accused of paying other extremist group heads and members to funnel funds to other radical leaders. This allegedly included over $160,000 to a field source that diverted the funds to leaders that included the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
SPLC chairman Bryan Fair argued in a Tuesday video statement that the organization no longer used paid confidential informants, but it did so in the past to gather intelligence on violent groups that "saved lives."
"We sought to protect the safety of our staff and the public. We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI," said Fair. "We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly with anyone to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families. And while we no longer work with paid informants, we continue to take their safety seriously. These individuals risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation's most radical and violent extremist groups."
According to the indictment, SPLC's future CFO and intelligence project director allegedly funneled donated funds through a series of bank accounts opened by at least five fictitious entities and companies, as part of a scheme to defraud donors. Wire communications for these fund transfers were allegedly in violation of the law against the use of fictitious names when using the Postal Service for a fraud scheme.
Opening bank accounts on behalf of fictitious entities also violated laws against making false statements in applications to federally insured banks. The SPLC also allegedly transferred funds between these accounts and onto pay cards for the field sources, who were supposedly employees. Later, bank-to-bank transfers were allegedly used, with names that concealed their actual purpose. This constituted money laundering, according to the indictment.
“The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups - even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal – and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”
Fair said on Tuesday that the justice system was being weaponized to dismantle civil rights and those who protected them. He said that the SPLC was unsurprised by the allegations, as the federal government had expressed animosity toward the SPLC with Patel's October decision to sever ties with the SPLC and a Congressional hearing reviewing them.
"We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission, the communities we serve," said Fair.