SPLC Indicted for Paying White Supremacist Groups It Branded as Enemies
Federal indictment accuses Southern Poverty Law Center of funneling more than $3 million in donor funds to Ku Klux Klan members and other white supremacist groups while publicly branding conservative organizations as extremists.
The Southern Poverty Law Center spent years branding conservative organizations as extremists while secretly paying Ku Klux Klan members more than $3 million in donor funds, according to a federal indictment accusing the civil rights organization of manufacturing the very extremism it claimed to fight.
The 11-count indictment exposes fundamental hypocrisy at an institution that built its reputation on smearing conservative groups while financially supporting actual white supremacist movements.
A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned the indictment April 21, charging the SPLC with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
The organization allegedly funneled donor money to at least eight individuals associated with the Ku Klux Klan, Unite the Right, Aryan Nations, and American Nazi Party between 2014 and 2023. These were the same groups the SPLC publicly denounced to justify its fundraising appeals.
One informant who helped plan the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville received $270,000 over eight years. That rally resulted in one death and dozens of injuries.
Another informant affiliated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance received more than $1 million over nearly 10 years and allegedly stole 25 boxes of documents from a different extremist group.
At least eight informants received a combined total exceeding $3 million.
The SPLC created shell entities including "Center Investigative Agency," "Fox Photography," and "Tech Writers Group" to disguise payments, according to the indictment. These fictitious organizations had no bona fide employees or legitimate business purpose. Money moved from the SPLC through sham accounts, then onto prepaid cards for distribution to sources in extremist groups.
This financial support for actual white supremacist organizations contrasts starkly with the SPLC's "hate group" designations of mainstream conservative advocacy organizations.
The SPLC labeled Moms for Liberty as a "far-right" anti-government extremist group in 2023. It described the Federation for American Immigration Reform as having "ties to white supremacist groups and eugenicists." The SPLC designated the Center for Immigration Studies as a "hate group" after Donald Trump's 2016 election victory.
Meanwhile, the groups receiving SPLC payments included leadership figures from the KKK, National Socialist Movement, and American Nazi Party.
"The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated at an April 21 press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel. "Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked."
"As the indictment describes, the SPLC was not dismantling these groups, it was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred," Blanche said.
FBI Director Patel added, "They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes."
Conservative organizations targeted by SPLC designations expressed vindication.
"I was shocked that people were shocked," said Tina Descovich, CEO of Moms for Liberty. "We make up over half of their hate map, and we have watched their unethical tactics over the last three years. We have watched them fabricate and manipulate."
The Federation for American Immigration Reform called the SPLC a creator of "imaginary bogeymen" who "rake in millions from donors who were scammed."
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, described the operation as a "fundraising racket." He noted, "Apparently, the supply of racism didn't meet the demand, so they had to create more of it."
The SPLC's informant program began in the 1980s as "Klanwatch" and was later renamed the Intelligence Project. In July 1983, KKK members attempted to firebomb the SPLC headquarters in Montgomery. The FBI severed ties with the SPLC in October 2025 after Director Kash Patel called it a "partisan smear machine" following its report labeling Turning Point USA as "hard right."
The indictment represents an unusual legal approach. Federal prosecutors charged a nonprofit organization rather than individuals. Some legal experts expressed skepticism about the government's ability to prove corporate intent to defraud.
"To establish that an entire corporate entity had intent to defraud seems exceptionally difficult," said Andrew Tessman, a former federal prosecutor.
Other experts noted that the FBI has long used paid informants and that shell companies to protect sources represent standard tradecraft.
"If you want to know what's going in the sewer, you have to walk through a lot of s---," said Pat Cotter, a former Mafia prosecutor.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the SPLC a "criminal organization" that has been "duping their supporters and the American taxpayers for far too long." She said the story should be on "the front page of every newspaper in this country."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, called for restitution, noting the SPLC's over $750 million endowment. A gunman who had SPLC material in his pocket shot a security guard at FRC headquarters in 2012, later telling investigators he intended "to kill as many people as possible."
SPLC Interim President and CEO Bryan Fair defended the organization's work. "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. To be clear, this program saved lives."
The indictment names only the SPLC as a defendant, not individuals. Acting Attorney General Blanche said the investigation remains ongoing and could expand.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Emily Coody Marks, a Trump nominee confirmed in 2018. U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson leads the Middle District of Alabama's Northern Division, which filed the charges with assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation.
As the legal battle moves forward, the families of Charlottesville and the parents in the Moms for Liberty movement find themselves on opposite sides of a question that will be decided in court: who truly manufactures extremism, and who profits from it.