The Southern Poverty Law Center has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, includes 11 counts against the SPLC for bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, according to the Justice Department. The charges stem from the SPLC's use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups, a practice the department says involved disguising payments through fictitious business accounts.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges, stating that the SPLC paid more than $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to at least eight individuals inside groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Movement. In some instances, the source of the money was disguised through accounts associated with fictitious businesses, Blanche said. Blanche accused the SPLC of defrauding donors and stoking racial hatred through payments to informants in hate groups, according to a Justice Department statement.
The organization is outraged by the false allegations and that the program saved lives.
The SPLC's interim president and CEO, Bryan Fair, confirmed the criminal investigation and defended the informant program, stating it helped save lives and that information was shared with the FBI. Fair said the organization is outraged by the false allegations and that the program saved lives, according to an SPLC statement. He explained that the SPLC began paying informants to infiltrate hate groups to protect its staff and gather intelligence, especially after its headquarters was firebombed in 1983.
Fair also said the SPLC has since abandoned the practice of paying infiltrators, according to an SPLC spokesperson. Fair added that the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of vulnerable people and organizations like the SPLC, according to the statement. The SPLC was founded in 1971 by Alabama lawyer Morris Dees to support civil rights for poor or disenfranchised people, according to multiple reports.
The SPLC began paying informants to infiltrate hate groups to protect its staff and gather intelligence, especially after its headquarters was firebombed in 1983.
The organization's endowment had just under $732 million, according to reports. The Justice Department has not commented on the matter, according to multiple reports. The investigation began during a previous administration and was later closed during Joe Biden's presidency, Blanche said.
Civil rights leaders have organized calls and public statements to support the SPLC, viewing the indictment as an attack on civil rights, according to multiple reports. A coalition of over 100 activist groups published a letter vowing solidarity with groups 'unjustly targeted' by the federal government; the SPLC was a signatory, according to reports. It remains unclear what specific evidence the Justice Department has to support the fraud and money laundering allegations, and whether the SPLC's informant payments actually funded hate group activities or were solely for intelligence gathering.
The federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of vulnerable people and organizations like the SPLC.
The exact timeline of the SPLC's informant program and when it ended is also unknown. Questions remain about why the investigation was reopened after being closed during the Biden administration. The impact of the indictment on the SPLC's operations and funding is yet to be determined.