SPLC Indicted: Federal Grand Jury Alleges $3M+ Funneled to Informants Tied to Extremist Groups
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Montgomery, Alabama-based civil rights organization, charging 11 counts: six of wire fraud, four of false statements to a federally insured bank and one of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors allege that from 2014 to 2023 the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donations to paid informants tied to extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement, using fictitious entities to open accounts and conceal the payments from donors. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference that the organization had been "manufacturing extremism," and FBI Director Kash Patel said shell companies were used to hide the payments.
The SPLC denies all charges. Chief Executive Bryan Fair said paying informants is a legitimate intelligence-gathering practice and that informants risked their lives infiltrating extremist groups. The SPLC and former executive Heidi Beirich, who was arrested in August and named in a second superseding indictment, have pleaded not guilty. More than 100 civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, signed a joint statement condemning the prosecution.
The case is pending; the indictment contains allegations only and no court has entered a conviction. (GSM, from the Associated Press and other reports)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Montgomery 的民权纪念碑（Civil Rights Memorial），其后为南方贫困法律中心总部大楼（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。Photo: The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, with the SPLC headquarters behind it (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
