The Justice Department obtained a superseding indictment from a grand jury this weekd against the Southern Poverty Law Center, which outlines additional allegations that the organization was allegedly funding extremist groups to sustain its operations.
From 2010 to 2023, the filing said the group “secretly funneled” around $4.1 million in tax-exempt donations that went towards attending, hosting, and growing group rallies for extremist groups, and alleges the group also paid for robes, hoods, and crosses to burn for the Ku Klux Klan.
The DOJ said it received the superseding indictment that was filed in the Middle District of Alabama by a grand jury on Tuesday. It alleges that $4.1 million of tax-exempt dollars were paid to hate groups the nonprofit claimed to be fighting against.
The 11-count indictment charges the Southern Poverty Law Center with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The superseding indictment does not contain new charges or accuse any new defendants.
“SPLC is a nonprofit entity that purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred by reporting on extremist groups and conducting research to inform law enforcement groups with the goal of dismantling these groups,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference in April when the initial indictment was filed. “The SPLC was not dismantling these groups, it was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred
The indictment further alleges that certain employees at the nonprofit knew about where the donation money was going, but that donors were unaware. Using “fictitious entities” to funnel money, the indictment alleges two employees at the Southern Poverty Law Center were apparently responsible for opening and modifying the fake accounts.
Did SPLC promote ‘Unite the Right’ rally?
Blanche said one of the most troubling findings was that the nonprofit was allegedly funding leaders who were responsible for the Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, where a counterprotestor died, and others were injured.
For years, the group was allegedly funneling hundreds of thousands of donor dollars to hate groups like the neo-Nazi organization, the National Alliance, the National Socialist Party of America, members of the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations affiliated with the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.
The nonprofit pleaded not guilty to the charges in April and filed a motion to dismiss them in federal court, alleging the indictment was “based on vindictive prosecution.”
“For weeks, we have been arguing against these false allegations levied against the 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 multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive,” Bryan Fair, interim president and CEO, SPLC, said in a May press release. “The government can’t prosecute the SPLC as payback for its protected speech — it violates basic constitutional rights.”
Democrats in the House Judiciary posted a video on X in May, vocalizing their support for the nonprofit and accusing the Trump administration of “a baseless and fraudulent indictment. In going after the SPLC, Trump is going after the civil rights and physical safety of communities across America targeted by racism, bigotry, and hate crimes.”