NEW YORK — The Southern Poverty Law Center said Tuesday it has been criminally charged by the U.S. Department of Justice on allegations of wire fraud, false statements and conspiracy to commit money laundering, prompting sharp condemnation from the Fines and Fees Justice Center, which called the case an attack on nonprofit advocacy organizations.
In a grand jury indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division, also filed “two forfeiture actions to recover alleged proceeds of the organization’s fraud scheme,” which authorities said were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
According to the DOJ, the SPLC allegedly “secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds” between 2014 and 2023 to people “associated with various violent extremist groups.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed the SPLC is “manufacturing racism to justify its existence” and “[u]sing donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen.”
The DOJ said the organization began “operating a covert network of individuals” in the 1980s, including the “Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America.”
Federal prosecutors alleged that, despite the SPLC openly denouncing some of these groups on its website, much of the donated money was being sent to “fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups.”
According to the SPLC website, “during the relevant time period,” its mission was to be a “catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the SPLC “lied to their donors” by allegedly engaging in a “massive fraud operation” to “enrich themselves” and “hide their deceptive operations.”
He said that in addition to lying to donors and “vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups,” the organization instead “paid the leaders of these … extremist groups,” illegally assisting in the “commission of state and federal crimes.”
The indictment alleges the SPLC used a network of informants, known within the organization as the “Fs,” to funnel “more than $160,000.00” to group leaders, including the Ku Klux Klan’s former “Grand Wizard of the Knights.”
The indictment also alleges that multiple bank accounts were opened under false premises about how the donated funds would be used.
Prosecutors said SPLC personnel opened bank accounts “in the name of fictitious entities” that were “never incorporated, had no bona fide employers, and conducted no actual business,” including “Center Investigative Agency (‘CIA’),” “North West Technologies (‘North West Tech’),” and others.
The DOJ said the “covert nature” of the accounts disguised the “true nature, source, ownership, and control” of the accounts, allowing the SPLC to use the money in its alleged fraudulent operation.
The FFJC’s co-executive directors, Joanna Weiss and Priya Sarathy Jones, defended the nonprofit legal advocacy group, saying the SPLC has supported “public safety” and “championed the rights of marginalized communities” for more than 50 years.
They argued that the group’s civic work “exemplifies a core principle” of society that is undermined by the “unfair and punitive attacks” made by the DOJ.
Jones and Weiss said the indictment “weaponizes [the] justice system,” where, instead of enforcing justice, it “puts a target on the backs of every non-profit” that advocates and fights for the “rights of marginalized communities.”
They added that nonprofits are vital institutions that serve as counterweights to “government activities,” where an “attack on one nonprofit is an attack on all.”
The FFJC co-executive directors said they strongly “condemn” the DOJ for targeting the SPLC and urged the government to “stop abusing their powers” and become a government that is “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
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