The Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on 11 counts of fraud and money laundering, accusing the nonprofit of secretly funding extremist groups it publicly claims to oppose. The indictment alleges that the SPLC funneled over $3 million to individuals associated with neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan organizations in the past decade.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the SPLC, which markets itself as a civil rights organization tracking hate groups, instead paid leaders of extremist factions including the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations. One recipient allegedly received $270,000 over eight years. FBI Director Kash Patel described the scheme as a “multi-million dollar fraud” designed to stoke racial hatred while misleading donors.
“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” Blanche said in a statement.
The indictment also identifies an alleged informant, designated as “F-37,” who participated in the leadership chat for the 2017 Unite the Right event in Charlottesville. This individual made racist posts under SPLC supervision and assisted in coordinating transportation for the event that ended with the “fine people hoax” and the death of leftist activist Heather Heyr.
Founded in 1971 by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr., the SPLC has faced criticism for labeling conservative organizations as hate groups while allegedly failing to maintain transparency. In 2018, the organization was forced to pay $3.4 million to anti-extremist activist Maajid Nawaz after wrongly designating him a far-right extremist.
