US officials have announced fraud charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights group that tracks extremist organisations and played a prominent role in confronting the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
In a news conference on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the non-profit of secretly funding the very groups that it says it opposes, through paying informants who infiltrated them - including within the KKK.
An indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The organisation's president has stated they would vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work. The SPLC has long had a sour relationship with the Trump administration. In October, the FBI ended its relationship with the group after accusing it of being a partisan smear machine. Some Republicans have also accused the group of unfairly targeting conservative groups such as Turning Point USA, the Family Research Council and Moms for Liberty, as well as individuals aligned with the Trump administration.
SPLC interim leader Bryan Fair stated that the Alabama-based non-profit organisation has dedicated the last 55 years to fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice. He expressed no surprise at being targeted by this administration, noting that the use of informants was necessary due to ongoing threats of violence.
Tuesday's indictment from the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges the group paid hundreds of thousands of dollars - and in one case $1m (£740,000) - to informants associated with groups that included the neo-Nazi organisation the National Alliance, the KKK and the National Socialist Movement.
It states that the SPLC sent more than $270,000 to a person who helped plan and attended the deadly white nationalist Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. It does not specify why that person was paid or what type of work they did for the organisation.
In another instance, the indictment claims that the non-profit sent more than $1m over nine years to an infiltrator who stole 25 boxes of documents from the violent extremist group's headquarters for the SPLC. It alleges that from 2014 to 2023, the SPLC funneled more than $3m to individuals associated with various violent extremist groups.
The indictment contends that the organisation misled its supporters by obtaining money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the funds would be used for. Blanche remarked, The SPLC is a non-profit entity that purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement groups. The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.
Fair accused prosecutors of weaponising the justice system, emphasizing that the federal government has been utilized to dismantle the rights of vulnerable populations and organizations that stand for justice. He reiterated that the SPLC no longer worked with paid informants and had previously shared intelligence gathered from them with law enforcement. Summary: The SPLC has faced allegations of impropriety and is battling significant legal accusations that could reshape its operation and public perception.
