SPLC indicted for defrauding donors, allegedly giving $3M to leaders of KKK, other extremist groups

A grand jury has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for allegedly giving $3 million to individuals tied to extremist groups it claims to oppose, including the Ku Klux Klan, as the far-left nonprofit condemns the allegations as the product of a “weaponized” federal government.

In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted SPLC on 11 counts, including wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

SPLC, a prominent nonprofit, identifies itself as “a beacon of hope, fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to help create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive.”

The indictment alleges that “unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance.”

The court document, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on Tuesday, also states that “the SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website.”

The indictment outlines $3 million in payments made to informants, including $270,000 to an individual who was part of the “online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event in Charlottesville, Virginia, and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC.” The informant allegedly “made racist postings under the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees.”

Additional payments cited in the indictment include $1 million to an informant affiliated with the neo-Nazi organization National Alliance, more than $300,000 to an officer in the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, $140,000 to a former chairman of the National Alliance and $70,000 to a former leader of the National Socialist Party.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division filed two forfeiture actions in hopes of recovering "alleged proceeds of the organization’s fraud scheme."

The indictment also details how the SPLC allegedly set up various “fictitious entities” to “secretly funnel donated money” to informants. It claims the organization engaged in six counts of wire fraud by falsely assuring donors that their money would be used to “dismantle” white supremacy, along with four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank to open the “fictitious entities” that “conducted no actual business.”

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This 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.”

FBI Director Kash Patel accused the SPLC of orchestrating “a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public.”

“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 using the funds to help facilitate state and federal crimes," Patel said. “That is illegal — and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved."

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama Kevin Davidson said the SPLC engaged in “deception” that “undermines public trust and social cohesion.”

In a video message responding to the indictment, SPLC Interim President and CEO Bryan Fair defended the payments as part of the organization’s “prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

“This use of informants was necessary because we are no strangers to threats of violence," Fair said. 

“For decades, we engaged in unprecedented litigation to dismantle the Klan and other hate groups,” he continued. “In light of that work, 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. We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families.”

After asserting that the use of confidential informants “saved lives,” Fair claimed, “the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people and any organization like ours that tries to stand in the breach."

“We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve," he said. 

The indictment comes six months after the FBI terminated its partnership with the SPLC. The organization has been criticized for labeling Christian conservative groups with traditional views on marriage and sexuality as “hate groups.” At the time, Patel claimed that SPLC "abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine" a long time ago, adding that “their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans.”