U.S. Charges SPLC Over Allegations of Funding Extremist Groups

Wed Apr 22 2026 20:38:42 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The Southern Poverty Law Center faces serious fraud charges for allegedly paying informants within hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, leading to accusations of duplicity in its anti-extremism efforts.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for fraudulently funding extremist groups while claiming to combat them. This controversy muddles the SPLC's long-standing reputation as a civil rights advocate. SPLC leaders assert they will defend their methods, emphasizing the necessity of informants in their fight against hate.

US officials have announced fraud charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights group that tracks extremist organisations and played a prominent role in confronting the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

In a news conference on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the non-profit of secretly funding the very groups that it says it opposes, through paying informants who infiltrated them - including those within the KKK.

The indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The organisation's president affirmed their intention to vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work amidst the charges. The SPLC has had a contentious history with the Trump administration, particularly after the FBI ended its relationship with the group, branding it a partisan smear machine.

Conservative critics allege that the SPLC has unjustly targeted various conservative organisations. SPLC interim leader Bryan Fair noted that their 55 years of work has centered on combatting white supremacy and other forms of injustice.

We are therefore unsurprised to be the latest organisation targeted by this administration, he stated, highlighting the threats faced by SPLC members and the need for informants.

Tuesday's indictment claims the SPLC paid significant sums, including over $1 million to informants linked to groups such as the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement. It details elaborate payments to informants, including over $270,000 to an individual involved in planning the 2017 Unite the Right rally.

Moreover, the SPLC reportedly funneled over $3 million to individuals associated with various extremist factions from 2014 to 2023, allegedly misleading donors about the purpose of their contributions.

In the press conference, Blanche asserted that the SPLC had not been dismantling extremist factions; rather, it was manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose through financial incentives to informants.

Fair, in a response, criticized the accusations as a manipulation of the justice system and reiterated that SPLC has ceased using paid informants, previously sharing information gathered with law enforcement agencies including the FBI.