Federal prosecutors are expanding their case against the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging the organization used donor money to keep white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan members inside extremist groups — even reimbursing them for expenses tied to cross burnings.
The shocking allegations were detailed in a superseding indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama.
The SPLC was initially charged in April with 11 counts, including wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The latest filing provides additional details about how prosecutors say the group handled informants while raising money from donors under slogans promising to expose hate and fight discrimination.
According to the indictment, two Klan members identified only as F-31 and F-32 approached the organization in 2010, fearing for their safety and seeking to leave the hate group.
Instead of helping them exit, prosecutors allege the SPLC paid the pair $1,200 a month plus expenses through a shell company known as Rare Books Warehouse so they would remain embedded within the organization.
The Justice Department claims some of the money was used to recruit new members and produce the Klan’s trademark white robes.
Court records allege the pair were reimbursed for expenses connected to cross-burning events, including wood and fuel. Prosecutors also claim donor money covered costs tied to extremist rallies, the creation of new chapters, and the publication of racist literature and paraphernalia.
Federal investigators say the SPLC’s infiltration operations date back decades, but contend the nonprofit concealed from donors that it distributed roughly $4.1 million to eight “field sources” between 2014 and 2023 through fictitious companies.
Those sources allegedly included a Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard and the leader of an online chat group that helped organize the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
According to the original indictment, the source tied to the Unite the Right rally received approximately $270,000 from the SPLC between 2015 and 2023.
Another source, prosecutors allege, had a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee and received roughly $1.2 million. Authorities claim that source stole 25 boxes of records from the neo-Nazi National Alliance, documents that were later used in articles published by the organization’s Hatewatch website.
The indictment also points to the group’s rapid financial growth during the same period.
Prosecutors allege the SPLC’s revenue jumped 233%, climbing from $38.7 million in 2010 to $129.1 million in 2023. The organization’s net assets also surged, growing from more than $238 million in 2010 to over $786 million by 2023.
Federal authorities claim the SPLC’s chief financial officer and the director overseeing its extremist infiltration program established bank accounts for sham entities, including Fox Photography, Center Investigative Agency, or CIA, and North West Technologies, to move donor funds to sources.
“These fictitious entities were never incorporated, had no bona fide employees, and conducted no legitimate business,” the superseding indictment claimed.
The allegations against the SPLC remain accusations, and the organization will have the opportunity to contest the charges in court.
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