DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups like the KKK

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DOJ announces formal charges against Southern Poverty Law Center

The Department of Justice announced formal charges against the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center Tuesday on what it called "manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose."

FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a sweeping indictment Tuesday against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accusing the far-left nonprofit of fraudulently paying members of extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

A grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment charging the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). Between 2014 and 2023, according to the DOJ, the SPLC "secretly funneled" more than $3 million in donations to at least eight individuals associated with violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, the Nationalist Socialist Movement, Unite the Right, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, and more.

Meanwhile, the SPLC paid members of these extremist groups so it could create a "work product that reported on these activities," according to Blanche.

"To that end, [SPLC] was doing the exact opposite of what it told its donors it was doing – not dismantling extremism but funding it," Blanche argued Tuesday during the press conference announcing the indictment.

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was pointed in his remarks at his first news conference Tuesday at the Department of Justice about the Trump administration's anti-fraud efforts. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

The SPLC is a longstanding left-wing nonprofit that claims to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement about them with the goal of dismantling the groups. SPLC's CEO, Bryan Fair, addressed the probe in a video message posted online, arguing the Trump administration has "made no secret who they want to protect and who they want to destroy."

"We are reviewing the charges," a subsequent statement from Fair sent to Fox News Digital added. "However, after today’s Department of Justice press conference, we are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC – an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive. 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. To be clear, this program saved lives."

"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," Fair continued in his comment to Fox News Digital. "SPLC will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work; we will continue to fight hate; and we will continue to envision and create a safer and more just world." 

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in March 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)

Patel and Blanche on Tuesday accused the SPLC of conducting "widespread, decade-long, multimillion dollar fraud" funneling money to the very groups it claims to combat. The complete list of these groups, according to a Justice Department, includes the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance, the National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party), and the American Front.

The pair also argued Tuesday that the SPLC tried to hide its payments, leading to several of the charges in the indictment.

"They set up shell companies and entities around America so that the financial institutions that we rely on as everyday Americans were deceived in believing that money was not coming from the Southern Poverty Law Center in the perpetration of this scheme and fraud, but rather fictitious entities," Patel argued during the press conference. "They stood up to perpetuate this ongoing fraud. This is a serious and egregious violation of a group that purported to dismantle violent extremist groups, but in turn actually only fueled that hatred."  

For example, the SPLC was paying roughly $270,000 to a member of the leadership group that planned the Unite the Right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, that resulted in the death of one person and injured dozens more.

Neo Nazis, Alt-Right, and White Supremacists take part a the night before the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, VA, white supremacists march with tiki torchs through the University of Virginia campus. (Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images))

"This is an important case brought by President Trump's administration, and we're thankful to the president for his leadership and funding of not just the FBI and DOJ, but his commitment to go out there and wipe out fraud, and conspiracy, and waste and abuse wherever it occurs, including the Southern Poverty Law Center," Patel said Tuesday.