- A federal indictment has been filed against the Southern Poverty Law Center, accusing it of fraud.
- The charges include wire fraud and money laundering, with an alleged misuse of $3 million.
- The center refutes the allegations, emphasizing the crucial role of informants in safeguarding lives and staff.
WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the Trump administration secured a criminal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization known for monitoring political extremists. The indictment accuses the center of defrauding its donors by employing paid informants to infiltrate various organizations.
The indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury in Alabama, includes charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering against the center as an entity. No individuals or other entities were named as defendants.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a 55-year-old institution that has long collaborated with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies before the Trump administration severed ties with it six months ago, has denounced the charges as “baseless accusations.”
“Confronting violent hate and extremist groups is among the most perilous tasks there is, and we believe it is also among the most vital work we undertake,” stated the organization’s interim CEO and President Bryan Fair.
He mentioned that the center was examining the 14-page indictment, but emphasized that its program of paid informants has “preserved lives.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who announced the indictment at a press conference, accused the center of “fabricating the extremism it claims to combat by paying sources to incite racial animosity.”
The criminal charges originate from the indictment’s claim that the nonprofit law center covertly redirected more than $3 million from donations to members of hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi organizations, between 2014 and 2023.
The indictment alleges that these payments constituted fraud because the center established bank accounts linked to fictitious entities to conceal the source of the payments and misled donors by soliciting donations under false pretenses.
In a video statement released before the charges were announced, Fair defended the use of paid informants to gather information, a practice the FBI acknowledges it uses in its own investigations, as necessary to protect Southern Poverty Law Center staff from potential violence.
Fair stated that his organization had refrained from widely publicizing such methods to protect the informants and their families.
Targeting perceived opponents with the justice system
The indictment on Tuesday represents the latest attempt by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump to leverage the criminal justice system against his perceived opponents.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, established in the early 1970s to protect the legal rights of Black Americans following the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, has frequently accused Trump officials of promoting conspiracy theories and racism.
Trump administration officials and conservative figures have previously criticized the Alabama-based center for labeling some far-right entities as hate groups.
In October, FBI Director Kash Patel terminated a longstanding working relationship between his agency and the center, branding the group a “partisan smear machine” that had been used to defame individuals and incite violence.
Patel’s action came weeks after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA, was included in the center’s “Hate Map” and described as an anti-government group.
The Trump administration has initiated a multipronged effort to investigate the activities and funding sources of liberal organizations it accuses of promoting violence or espousing views it defines as domestic terrorism.
Targets of what Trump’s critics perceive as a broad crackdown on free speech have included supporters of pro-Palestinian protests and liberal nonprofits opposed to his agenda, including his immigration and climate policies.
In his recorded statement early on Tuesday, Fair said his organization was aware that it was facing a criminal investigation and possible charges over the use of paid informants.
“Today, the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people and any organization like ours that stands in the breach,” Fair said in the video. “We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition, and we will not abandon our mission or the communities we serve.”
Agree – It’s concerning that a nonprofit organization like SPLC would resort to using paid informants, potentially compromising their credibility and integrity.