The Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 federal counts, including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The DOJ has accused the civil rights nonprofit of paying at least nine informants more than $3 million between 2014 and 2023. One informant from the neo-Nazi National Alliance Affiliate organization was allegedly paid more than $1 million.
Shamira Muhammad
The Department of Justice indicts the Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges
“They used the fraudulently raised money by lying to their donor networks, thousands of Americans, to go ahead and actually pay leadership of these supposed violent extremist groups,” FBI director Kash Patel said at a recent press conference.
He said other groups included the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, Unite to Right, the National Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nation Motorcycle Club and the American Front.
The nonprofit is also accused of creating bank accounts under five fictitious entities in order to pay informants embedded within the hate groups it was investigating.
The SPLC said in a video posted days before the charges were handed down that it no longer uses paid informants, but frequently shared information gained from them with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI.
SPLC Interim Director Bryan Fair asserts in the video that paid informants allowed the organization to gain “credible intelligence on extremely violent groups" without exposing its staff members to dangerous situations.
“In 1983, our offices were firebombed, and in the years since, there have been countless credible threats against our staff,” he said. “For decades, we engaged in unprecedented litigation to dismantle the Klan and other hate groups. In light of that work, we sought to protect the safety of our staff and the public.”
Fair said these “individuals risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation's most radical and violent extremist groups.”
“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” he said.
Fair also suggested any charges may stem from political motives, stating the organization "will not be intimidated into silence or contrition and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve."
The DOJ’s charges are against the organization, not individuals. But that is subject to change. The SPLC is currently helping to litigate a Mississippi Supreme Court redistricting case and conditions in a Hinds County jail.
The SPLC stated mission includes fighting against white supremacy, antisemitism and promoting voting rights. President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice Kimberly Jones Merchant said she had not read the indictment but believes in Mississippi, “the SPLC has been here” doing pivotal work in the state.
“They were involved in a voting rights litigation case that we partnered with them on for people with disabilities,” she said. “At a time where our legislation was trying to limit that.”
Merchant had just begun her tenure as MCJ’s president when her organization was declared to be a “radical advocacy organization” by the Trump administration. MCJ has previously received funding from the Consumer Protection Bureau, which faced increased scrutiny in the beginning of President Trump’s second term.
“We felt like if the work that we do in keeping people in their homes, if the work that we do protecting people's property or the work that we do keeping kids in school, if that's considered radical, then we wear the description with a badge of honor,” said Merchant.
The SPLC has been outspoken about policies promoted by the Trump administration, including issues related to immigration and the SAVE Act. Merchant believes that could have made them a target.
“This moment is indicative of where we are in society right now, although it also is bigger than one organization,” she said. “The larger question is whether groups that challenge these harmful systems will be allowed to do the work without intimidation.”
The SPLC declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The organization said it has no plans to change any of their regular reports, including a list of documented hate groups in each state.
The SPLC is no stranger to controversy or attacks. Law enforcement vehicles continue to surround its offices in downtown Montgomery, Alabama due to ongoing threats. The organization’s former director and co-founder Morris Dees was fired, potentially due to numerous sexual assault allegations.