Advocates applaud, condemn SPLC wire fraud charges

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Lawmakers and political action groups simultaneously applauded and condemned the U.S. Department of Justice’s new superseding indictment from a grand jury against the Southern Poverty Law Center. The indictment contains new allegations that the organization used donations to fund hate groups.

The indictment alleged the SPLC used $4.1 million in tax-exempt donations to pay individuals inside extremist organizations and influence members to join hate groups. The superseding indictment did not contain new charges from those made by the department in April.

The DOJ previously charged the SPLC with 11 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The new indictment alleges the group used its funds to recruit members for hate groups, purchase materials for cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods. SPLC has denied all of the allegations.

“The SPLC’s paid informants engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” the superseding indictment reads.

Between 2010 and 2023, the indictment alleges SPLC donations were used to organize meetings with members of extremist groups, create racist paraphernalia, and publish extremist literature.

The SPLC stands accused of using a network of individuals to promote behavior in extremist groups across the country including the National Alliance, Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations. One individual was paid more than $1.2 million to remain involved in the National Alliance group.

“The very org who claimed to be ‘fighting hate’ was the one perpetuating it?” U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on social media Wednesday.

Mike Zamora, national director of policy at the American Civil Liberties Union, slammed the indictment and warned against taking its claims “at face value.”

“The manufactured outrage against SPLC at both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and in Congress are just the latest examples of the Trump administration and its allies turning the power of the government on people and organizations that they see as opposition,” Zamora wrote.

In another instance, the SPLC maintained a webpage – the ‘Extremist Files’ – denouncing an individual associated with the KKK who it was secretly paying, the superseding indictment alleges.

“The SPLC used this ‘Extremist File’ webpage to solicit more public donations,” the indictment reads.

The indictment also alleges the SPLC paid two members who sought to get out of the Ku Klux Klan a monthly salary of $1,200 to remain in the group. SPLC employees, according to the indictment, instructed group members to misrepresent the nature of their monthly salary and claim they received it from a job helping college students research and write essays.

“The SPLC employee told them it was for their own safety,” the indictment reads. “Neither [member] ever researched or wrote any essays for any students, college or otherwise.”

The group also is accused of paying one individual more than $155,000 to remain the leader of neo-Nazi organization, the National Alliance, and more than $350,000 to another individual associated with the Aryan Nations.

Rep. Mike Lee, R-Utah, celebrated news of the indictment on social media. Lee has been a vocal critic of the SPLC over the last few months.

“Couldn’t happen to a a nicer front group,” Lee wrote on social media Wednesday.

If the SPLC is convicted of offenses related to the allegations, it will be required to forfeit all assets connected to the individuals described in the filing.

“It was the objective of this conspiracy to conduct financial transactions designed to conceal the true nature, source, ownership, and control of fraudulently obtained money the SLPC paid to [members in hate groups.]”