The Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty to 11 fraud-related charges and is tentatively set to face trial Oct. 5 in an Alabama federal court.
SPLC Interim President Bryan Fair entered the plea May 7 to the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury last month. The Montgomery-based civil rights group tracks and reports on the activities of hate groups. Its roots are in fighting against the Ku Klux Klan.
Now, under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice accuses the organization of a range of offenses connected to its paid-informant program, including money laundering, wire fraud and lying to a federally insured bank.
The clandestine program, which ended in 2023, paid informants to follow the movements of extremist organizations and to provide early warnings about possible violent criminal activities. But the government claims the organization illegally used donor contributions to support rather than oppose racist groups.
“These particularized irregularities suggest that the grand jury was not merely misled by the government’s presentation of the law, but likely that it was actively weaponized to facilitate such charges.”
“They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Days ahead of the arraignment, attorneys for the center filed a motion demanding a retraction of a “false and unfairly prejudicial statement” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche made about the SPLC on Fox News, namely that the group failed to alert law enforcement about potential violence on the part of white supremacist groups.
“In addition, Acting Attorney General Blanche’s false statement gives rise to the concern that the grand jury heard evidence which incorrectly represented that the SPLC never shared information received from informants with the government, as well as arguments premised on that erroneous assertion,” the petition stated.
DOJ followed with a court document conceding some merit to the center’s assertion, but also pointing to a statement Blanche made on a subsequent appearance on Fox.
“It is true that over the years they have selectively shared information with law enforcement. That’s well-documented and there’s no dispute there. They aren’t charged with any of that conduct,” Blanche said on the program.
SPLC filed a second motion requesting the court to order DOJ to provide the transcriptions from all grand jury hearings that led to the indictment.
“This indictment represents a stunning and unremitting departure from Justice Department policy and established law,” according to the motion. “It seeks to criminalize some of the very investigative tools and programs that the SPLC has used for decades to infiltrate and dismantle violent extremist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations — tradecraft that has produced vital intelligence that has been shared with law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
The indictment “suffers from some obvious legal infirmities” such as omitting the element of intent and squaring the charges with legal precedent, the motion says. “These particularized irregularities suggest that the grand jury was not merely misled by the government’s presentation of the law, but likely that it was actively weaponized to facilitate such charges.”
In fact, the entire case is demonstrably wrong and based on false information and a misapplication of law, Fair said after entering the plea in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
The center and its informant program have helped prevent violent attacks and disrupt the operations of white supremacist and other hate groups.
“There is no question that the information the SPLC shared with law enforcement saved lives,” Fair said. The organization “is no stranger to legal threats by those on the wrong side of history. In our 55 years, we have faced and prevailed in numerous fights.”
The SPLC has faced the ire of religious and political conservatives since its founding in 1971. Resentment among evangelicals was stoked in 2024 when the organization added Focus on the Family to its “Hate Map” for demonizing LGBTQ people as unnatural and un-Christian.
“The SPLC will continue to fight white supremacy and various forms of injustice in our mission to build a democracy where we can all live and thrive. We will continue that mission no matter what,” Fair added.
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