The Department of Justice announced a sweeping 11-count federal indictment on Tuesday against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleging the civil rights organization engaged in wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to financial institutions.
The charges land at a sensitive time for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is currently seeking the Democratic nomination for governor and served on the SPLC’s board of directors during a significant portion of the period covered in the investigation.
According to the Alabama-based grand jury indictment, the SPLC allegedly defrauded its donor base by funneling approximately $3,000,000 to “informants” within the very extremist groups it publicly denounced.
These payments reportedly occurred between 2014 and 2023. Federal prosecutors claim that donor funds were used to pay leaders and organizers of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance.
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Notably, the indictment alleges that an organizer of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville was acting as a “field source” for the SPLC.
Benson’s history with the organization is long-standing. She served on the SPLC board from 2014 to 2019 and previously worked as an investigative reporter for the group. In her 2025 memoir, The Purposeful Warrior, Benson detailed her past work infiltrating white supremacist organizations by posing as a freelance journalist.
She wrote that this experience helped her understand the “direct link from the violent rhetoric of leaders to the hateful acts of their followers,” a perspective she claimed was vital to her oversight of the 2020 presidential election.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office referred inquiries to Benson’s gubernatorial campaign, which has not yet issued a formal response to the federal allegations.
The indictment follows years of escalating controversy surrounding the SPLC’s “hate map” and its classification of various organizations. In 2023, the group faced backlash for labeling Parental Rights in Education and Moms for Liberty as “hate groups.”
More recently, in 2025, the SPLC added Turning Point USA to its map just months before the organization’s founder, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated during an event at Utah Valley University. These designations have drawn criticism from those who point to past incidents, such as a 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council where the perpetrator admitted to using the SPLC’s map to select his target.
While many Democratic leaders have criticized the DOJ’s decision to indict the organization, the SPLC’s legal troubles have been compounding. In March 2023, one of the group’s staff attorneys was charged with domestic terrorism following a riot at an Atlanta police training facility.
At the time, the SPLC defended the staffer and placed the blame on law enforcement tactics. With this new federal fraud case moving forward, Benson’s tenure on the board is expected to face increased scrutiny as the Michigan gubernatorial primary approaches.
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