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DOJ Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on Fraud and Money-Laundering Charges

The case tests whether a nonprofit’s secret informant payments can be treated as donor fraud.

Overview

  • The civil rights group, which was charged Tuesday, is accused of routing at least $3 million from 2014 to 2023 to people tied to the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi organizations.
  • An 11-count indictment in federal court in Alabama lists six wire fraud counts, four bank fraud counts, and one conspiracy to commit money laundering.
  • Prosecutors say the SPLC moved money through shell or fictitious entities and multiple bank accounts before loading funds onto prepaid cards for informants inside extremist groups.
  • Court filings describe large individual payouts, including more than $1 million to a source linked to the National Alliance and payments to an imperial wizard of the United Klans of America.
  • The SPLC says the payments were part of a long-running intelligence program used to track violent threats and share tips with law enforcement, and it vows to fight the charges in court.