Federal Grand Jury Charges Southern Poverty Law Center with Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
Last week, a federal Grand Jury in Alabama charged the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
The SPLC has spent decades opposing white supremacy while also branding Christian organizations like Family Research Council and Focus on the Family as “hate groups” on par with Neo-Nazis and the KKK.
The group has also urged financial institutions to de-bank conservative organizations.
But last week an indictment from a federal Grand Jury said the SPLC has secretly funneled more than $3 million to a covert network of informants affiliated with groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
According to the indictment, the SPLC laundered donations through shell companies to people in the very groups the SPLC claimed it was working to dismantle.
The indictment says one SPLC contact from the National Alliance was paid more than $1,000,000 between 2014 and 2023. According to the indictment, the informant helped fundraise for the National Alliance while also providing the SPLC with stolen documents.
The indictment says the SPLC paid another informant $270,000 while helping plan and coordinate transportation to the 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Other informants were listed on the SPLC’s own “Extremist File” fundraising webpage at the same time the SPLC was secretly paying them.
The indictment says the SPLC also used these informants to indirectly funnel money to other violent extremist group leaders.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it plainly: “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”
What the SPLC did isn’t just hypocritical. According to federal prosecutors, it’s fraud.
Arkansas families and churches should pay attention. The SPLC’s “hate group” list has been used to pressure banks, employers, and government agencies to treat Christians and conservatives like dangerous extremists. This indictment should make it clear that the SPLC’s “hate group” list isn’t trustworthy.
Family Council plans to continue monitoring this case as it moves forward.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.