U.S. Department of Justice Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center for Fraud Over Paid Informants

The U.S. Department of Justice indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday, charging the civil-rights nonprofit with fraud over its use of paid informants to investigate extremist groups.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a federal grand jury in Alabama returned an indictment charging the group with wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and he described the scheme as paying sources “to stoke racial hatred.”

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Blanche said the indictment alleges the SPLC “was not dismantling these groups,” but instead “was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose.”

Prosecutors said the case was brought in federal court in Alabama, where the organization is based, and they said the indictment was returned in the Middle District of Alabama.

CBS News reported that the federal grand jury indicted the SPLC on 11 counts, including six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

NPR similarly said the SPLC was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information.

The indictment also alleges the SPLC made false statements to banks and used fictitious entities, including “Fox Photography” and “Rare Books Warehouse,” to set up accounts used to funnel money to informants, according to NPR and PBS.

Prosecutors focused on a paid informant program that, according to the indictment, ran between 2014 and 2023 and involved payments of at least $3 million to people affiliated with violent extremist groups.

CNN reported that prosecutors focused their case on eight informants who received at least $3 million in payments between 2014 and 2023, and it said some were members of the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi parties in the U.S.

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CNN said the payments were sent through shell companies to obfuscate who was being paid, while Blanche said the SPLC failed to disclose the informant program to donors.

WTOP and NPR both said the indictment alleges the SPLC made false statements to banks and created bank accounts for fictitious entities such as “Fox Photography” and “Rare Books Warehouse” to conceal the money’s actual purpose.

NPR added that the indictment includes details on at least nine unnamed informants, and it said within the SPLC they were known as field sources or “the Fs.”

NPR also reported that one informant was paid more than $1 million between 2014 and 2023 while affiliated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance, and it said another informant was a member of an “online leadership chat group” that planned the 2017 white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Atlanta News First said the Justice Department alleged that between 2014 and 2023 SPLC funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to a list of extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance, and the National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party).

SPLC leaders rejected the allegations and said the paid informant program was intended to monitor threats of violence and share information with law enforcement.

CNN reported that SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair revealed the organization was under investigation for its now defunct program and that Fair denied any wrongdoing, saying SPLC would “vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.”

NPR and WTOP both quoted Fair saying, “Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do,” and they both reported Fair’s statement that “The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the Civil Rights Movement becomes a reality for all.”

Newsweek also quoted Fair saying, “This program saved lives,” and it reported that Fair said SPLC would vigorously defend itself while continuing to fight hate.

In the same vein, CBS News quoted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s framing of the program as manufacturing extremism, while Fair responded that the program saved lives and that SPLC would “vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work.”

PBS reported that SPLC said the program was kept quiet to protect the safety of informants, and it quoted Fair saying, “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.”

The dispute over intent and disclosure also surfaced in Blanche’s remarks about nonprofit transparency, with NPR and WTOP quoting Blanche saying nonprofits are “required to under the laws associated with a nonprofit to have certain transparency and honesty in what they're telling donors.”

The indictment landed in a broader context of conflict between the SPLC and the Trump administration, including the FBI ending ties with the group.

CBS News reported that in October, FBI Director Kash Patel ended all ties between the bureau and the center, accusing the group of being a “partisan smear machine.”

CBS News

CBS News also said President Trump’s allies accused the organization of being “anti-Christian” and unfairly targeting Republican-aligned groups like Turning Point USA, the Family Research Council and Moms for Liberty, and it described a Republican-led congressional hearing in December where a senior TPUSA executive accused the group of “weaponiz[ing] the 'hate' label against ideological opponents.”

CNN similarly said FBI Director Kash Patel quickly broke ties with the SPLC, calling it a “partisan smear machine,” and it described the SPLC’s research as a target of Republican criticism.

Newsweek added that the case follows years of escalating attacks on the organization by allies of President Donald Trump and said the FBI director severed ties last year, calling it a “partisan smear machine” and accusing it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map.”

NPR and PBS both described the SPLC as a frequent target of Republicans and said the investigation could add to concerns that the Justice Department is being used to go after conservative opponents and critics.

CBS News also tied the dispute to a draft report on “anti-Christian bias” that CBS News has seen, where Patel accused the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League of providing the bureau with “false information.”

The indictment and the competing narratives set up a legal fight over how SPLC’s informant program operated and what it disclosed to donors.

“Washington — A federal grand jury in Alabama indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of wire and bank fraud-related charges on Tuesday, the Justice Department announced, accusing the group of paying members of extremist groups as part of its efforts to investigate them without disclosing the practice to donors or banks”

CBS News

CNN said the indictment was announced soon after Bryan Fair revealed the organization was under investigation for its now defunct program, and it described the case as charging the civil rights group with nearly a dozen counts including bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

CNBC

PBS reported that Blanche said the money was passed from the center through two different bank accounts before being loaded onto prepaid cards, and it said the group never disclosed to donors details of the informant program.

NPR and WTOP both said prosecutors allege the SPLC defrauded donors by using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting, with more than $3 million paid to informants through the now-defunct program.

At the same time, SPLC’s public posture emphasized that it would defend itself and that the program saved lives, with Fair telling reporters that “Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is” and that “This program saved lives.”

News From The States quoted Fair accusing the federal government of being “weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people,” and it said Fair argued SPLC would not be intimidated into silence or contrition.

The legal stakes also include the indictment’s claims about concealment from banks and donors, including Patel’s statement that SPLC “set up shell companies and entities around America” so that financial institutions would be deceived about the money’s source.