Federal prosecutors have expanded their case against the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging in a superseding indictment filed Tuesday that donor funds were secretly used to support members of extremist organizations the group publicly claimed it was working to expose and combat.
The new filing, submitted in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, builds upon charges first brought in April and provides additional details about the organization’s alleged use of confidential informants embedded within white supremacist and extremist groups.
According to prosecutors, some of those informants received donor-funded payments that allegedly helped finance activities ranging from extremist rallies and recruitment efforts to the purchase of materials used in cross burnings and the production of Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods.
The Daily Signal’s Tyler O’Neil detailed the superseding indictment in a lengthy X thread on Wednesday.
“The SPLC actively led donors to believe that their donations would be used to ‘dismantle’ violent extremist groups. However, the SPLC hid from donors the fact that a portion of their donated funds was being secretly used to support extremist groups and to fund their violent, racist, and extremist activities,” the indictment stated. “These activities were of the same nature as the activities about which the SPLC published articles on its website and other forums in an effort to obtain donations.”
The superseding indictment leaves intact the original 11 criminal counts announced earlier this year. Those charges include six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
One of the most detailed allegations involves a confidential source identified in court documents as “F-9.” Prosecutors allege the source received more than $1.2 million in donor funds over a period exceeding two decades while infiltrating the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, at the direction of the SPLC. The indictment alleges the payments were routed through a bank account associated with a shell entity known as Tech Writers Group.
Federal prosecutors further allege that an SPLC employee was romantically involved with F-9. According to the indictment, approximately $140,000 in donor funds was deposited into a joint account owned by the employee and the informant, who also shared ownership of a home. Prosecutors contend the money was used to cover personal living expenses.
The indictment also outlines allegations involving two Ku Klux Klan members, identified only as F-31 and F-32. According to prosecutors, both individuals approached the SPLC in 2010 seeking assistance because they feared for their safety and wanted to leave the organization. Instead, the indictment alleges, donor funds were used to keep them involved with the Klan and reimburse expenses connected to their activities.
Another confidential source, identified as F-30, allegedly led the National Socialist Party of America and received donor-funded payments through a separate entity called Rare Books. Prosecutors claim similar arrangements existed with additional field sources associated with the KKK and other extremist organizations.
The Justice Department alleges that donor money provided to these “field sources” financed a range of activities, including hosting and attending extremist gatherings around the country, expanding chapters of extremist organizations, recruiting new members, producing racist merchandise sold at rallies, and covering living expenses so informants could devote more time to their groups rather than seeking outside employment.
The SPLC was initially charged in April with wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and bank-related offenses.
