Feds Charge SPLC with Fraud Tied to Florida Extremist Infiltrations

The Justice Department filed criminal charges Tuesday against the Southern Poverty Law Center, accusing the prominent civil rights organization of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering tied to its decades-long use of paid informants to infiltrate domestic extremist groups.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges to reporters Tuesday afternoon, marking one of the most significant federal actions ever taken against a major civil rights nonprofit. The charges stem from the SPLC's historical practice of compensating informants who monitored white supremacist and other extremist organizations — a program the group says it has since discontinued.

SPLC Chief Executive Officer Bryan Fair, speaking before the charges were formally announced, defended the informant program as a product of its era. "When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system," Fair said. "There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives."

The SPLC, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, has provided law enforcement agencies — including the FBI — with research on domestic extremism for years. FBI Director Kash Patel announced last year that the bureau was severing its relationship with the organization. Republicans have long criticized the SPLC, alleging it unfairly designates conservative groups as hate organizations.

The charges were filed Tuesday; no trial date has been set. The SPLC had not issued a formal legal response to the indictment as of Tuesday evening. The case is expected to move through federal court in the coming weeks, with an initial hearing date to be scheduled by the presiding judge.

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