This week, the Justice Department arrested Heidi Beirich, former head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which was responsible for identifying and labeling SPLC’s list of “hate” groups.

The arrest came as another superseding indictment against the SPLC and Beirich was unsealed by the DOJ. Beirich was charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment of money laundering.

According to the documents, Beirich was romantically involved with one of SPLC’s paid informants inside a white-supremacist organization. Prosecutors allege SPLC donor money was funneled through accounts Beirich shared with that informant.

If the government’s allegations are true, for Beirich, hate paid — and it paid well.

But it is more than money.

Beirich served as deputy director or director of the intelligence project for nearly 20 years and was key to targeting Christian and conservative organizations with the hate label.

Family Research Council was among the first organizations placed on its revamped hate list in 2010, alongside violent extremist groups.

Beirich later defended the designation, stating FRC “is an extremely dangerous group…” Why? Not because we engage in or condone violence, but, according to Beirich, because of political influence.

On August 15, 2012, after FRC joined then-Governor Mike Huckabee in supporting Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, Floyd Corkins entered FRC headquarters carrying a pistol, ammunition, and Chick-fil-A sandwiches. According to his confession, Corkins intended to kill as many people as possible and stuff the sandwiches into the mouths of his victims.

FRC building manager, Leo Johnson, though seriously wounded, stopped the gunman.

The next day, FBI investigators confirmed the attacker selected FRC because of the SPLC website and its so-called “hate map.”

We called on SPLC to drop the loaded label.

Instead, SPLC doubled down.

But the story did not stop with one act of violence.

Over time, banks, payment processors, fundraising platforms, and tech companies increasingly relied upon SPLC classifications to determine which organizations could operate freely in the digital marketplace.

After the deadly Charlottesville rally in 2017, the pressure intensified. 

SPLC and the Center for American Progress then formed “Change the Terms,” a coalition that established standards encouraging technology and financial companies to deny digital access and financial infrastructure to organizations SPLC labeled.

SPLC officials openly acknowledged this strategy before Congress in January 2020. SPLC official Lecia Brooks stated: “We have lobbied internet companies, one by one… A key part of this strategy has been to target these organizations’ funding.”

Brooks described the coordinated effort to pressure banks and others to restrict access for organizations SPLC opposed.

SPLC was the hub, but there were many spokes in this wheel designed to crush Christians and conservatives. The DOJ criminal investigation should not stop with SPLC.

This is more than fraud; the evidence points to a criminal conspiracy involving many financial institutions.

Who coordinated with SPLC? Which banks, payment processors, technology companies, federal agencies, and nonprofits used those labels to deny Americans essential services?

SPLC may have supplied the labels, but powerful institutions gave those labels their power. They should be held accountable along with SPLC.

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand. He also served two terms as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and served as Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.