A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama has handed down an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleging the civil rights organization funneled millions of dollars to the very extremist groups it claimed to monitor.
The charges, announced Tuesday by the Department of Justice, include six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of money laundering.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters that the SPLC allegedly paid at least $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to eight individuals connected to white supremacist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups.
One specific allegation claims the SPLC paid $270,000 to an organizer of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Blanche argued that rather than dismantling these organizations, the SPLC used paid operatives to “manufacture extremism” and incite racial tensions.
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The SPLC has defended its actions, characterizing the payments as part of a long-standing program using confidential informants to gather intelligence on violent threats. SPLC CEO Bryan Fair stated that the organization shared information with law enforcement to prevent violence, noting that the program was born out of an era of state-sponsored violence against activists.
“There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives,” Fair said.
However, federal officials and critics see the situation differently. FBI Director Kash Patel announced in October that the agency had severed ties with the SPLC, labeling the group a “partisan smear machine” and stating its “hate map” was unsuitable for law enforcement partnerships.
The indictment follows a period of heightened scrutiny for the nonprofit, particularly after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in 2025. Kirk’s organization had been designated as a “hate group” by the SPLC just months before his death, leading to claims that the SPLC’s labeling system carries dangerous real-world consequences.
American Oversight Executive Director Chioma Chukwu released a statement condemning the prosecution as a “politically motivated, retaliatory case” by the Trump administration.
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Chukwu argued the charges are an attempt to silence a group that holds power to account and protects civil rights. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers like Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett expressed support for the DOJ’s move, suggesting the SPLC has drifted from its original mission and become “anti-American.”
As the case moves forward, the legal battle is expected to center on whether the SPLC’s financial relationships with extremists were legitimate investigative tools or a criminal scheme to stoke the social friction the organization built its reputation on fighting.
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