DOJ Says Southern Poverty Law Center Stoked ‘Racial Hatred'
The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised and routed millions of dollars to pay informants who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups, according to the Justice Department.
The indictment marks a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's confrontation with one of the nation's most prominent civil rights organizations and intensifies concerns that federal law enforcement is being used to target the president's critics.
The case threatens the future of a nonprofit that has long assisted law enforcement in tracking extremist violence and could reshape how advocacy groups conduct intelligence‑gathering operations.
Newsweek reached out to the SPLC for further comment Tuesday evening via its contact form.
Federal Fraud Charges Detailed
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a federal grand jury in Alabama returned an indictment charging 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 nonprofit, based in Montgomery, Alabama, is accused of concealing the true purpose of millions of dollars raised from donors between 2014 and 2023.
According to Blanche, prosecutors allege the organization paid at least $3 million to individuals affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America and other extremist groups. Blanche said the payments were routed through multiple bank accounts before being transferred to prepaid debit cards in an effort to obscure their destination.
"The SPLC was not dismantling these groups," Blanche said at a news conference announcing the charges. "It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred."
Prosecutors allege the center failed to disclose the informant program to donors, violating requirements that nonprofits be transparent about how raised funds are used. An indictment outlining the specific allegations was expected to be filed in federal court in the Middle District of Alabama.
SPLC Defends Informant Program
The indictment came just hours after the Southern Poverty Law Center publicly confirmed it was under criminal investigation for its former use of paid confidential informants. Chief executive officer Bryan Fair said the program was designed to gather credible intelligence on violent extremist groups and was frequently shared with local and federal law enforcement agencies.
Fair said the organization kept the program undisclosed to protect informant safety and prevent retaliation by extremist groups. "There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives," he said in a statement, citing the history of unpunished violence against civil rights activists during the 1960s.
"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.
Fair insisted the organization acted lawfully and said it would contest the charges. "We will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work," he said. The group said it no longer operates a paid informant program.
Political Backlash and Broader Implications
Founded in 1971, the Southern Poverty Law Center built its reputation using civil litigation to dismantle white supremacist organizations and later became a major source of research on domestic extremism and hate crimes. In recent years, it has drawn fierce criticism from Republicans who accuse it of political bias and unfairly branding conservative organizations as extremist.
The case follows years of escalating attacks on the organization by Trump allies. Last year, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the bureau had severed ties with the center, calling it a "partisan smear machine" and accusing it of defaming "mainstream Americans" through its widely used "hate map."
The center also faced renewed scrutiny after the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which reignited debate over the public consequences of labeling political groups as extremists. The SPLC had included Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded, in a report titled "The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024," describing it as "a case study of the hard right."
House Republicans held a hearing in December focused on the SPLC, accusing it of coordinating with the Biden administration to target Christians and conservatives and suppress constitutionally protected speech. The center has denied those allegations.
Civil liberties advocates say the indictment risks chilling the work of nonprofits that monitor extremism, while administration officials insist no organization is above the law. The case adds to ongoing scrutiny of the Justice Department amid a series of investigations involving Trump critics, raising questions about the boundaries between law enforcement and politics as the prosecution moves forward.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 6:02 PM.