WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday announced an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging the civil rights organization has engaged in financial crimes.
Blanche said at a news conference that the DOJ’s investigation found the organization had been “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” and then hiding those payments.
The 11-count indictment from a federal grand jury consists of six counts of wire fraud, four counts of false statements to a federally insured bank and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center’s ('SPLC') stated mission included the dismantling of white supremacy and confronting hate across the country. However, unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance,” the indictment alleges.
The indictment also alleges that “between 2014 and 2023, SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million” to “field sources” affiliated with groups including the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Movement and the American Front.
FBI Director Kash Patel added at the news conference that SPLC attempted to hide payments by using shell companies.
“In order to covertly pay its field sources, the SPLC opened bank accounts connected to a series of fictitious entities,” the 14-page indictment alleges.
Blanche said Tuesday that the investigation has “been going on for a long time,” adding that it was “shut down” during the Biden administration before being revived during Trump’s second term.
Bryan Fair, interim chief executive of SPLC, said in a statement that the organization is still reviewing the charges but that after witnessing the Justice Department’s news conference they are “are outraged by the false allegations.”
“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,” Fair said. “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.”
Earlier in the day, Fair said in a video that the 55-year-old organization was being “targeted” by the Trump administration.
He said SPLC’s confidential sources had “risked their lives to infiltrate and inform on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups,” and provided information to the FBI which “saved lives.” For decades SPLC has used civil lawsuits to combat white supremacist groups.
The Trump administration already has taken action against the SPLC, which has long faced criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
In an interview with Trump administration officials working on a forthcoming report on “anti-Christian bias,” Patel said the FBI had “jettisoned all relationships with the Southern Poverty Law Center,” NBC News reported earlier this month.
Recounting the organization’s fight against white supremacy and other forms of injustice, Fair said the SPLC was “unsurprised to be the latest organization targeted by this administration, they have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy.”
SPLC is based in Montgomery, Alabama, which falls within the Middle District of Alabama, one of 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the U.S. That federal prosecutor’s office is headed by Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson, who has been in the role since 2024 and became a career federal prosecutor in 2012.
The case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Emily Marks, who was nominated by Trump in 2018.
The indictment against SPLC comes at a time when Blanche is under pressure to deliver wins against entities disfavored by President Donald Trump, who was upset that former Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to secure convictions of his political foes.
In an interview with NBC News last week, Blanche said that Americans should be “happy” that Trump was so closely involved in the Justice Department’s operations.
