Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), once esteemed as a leading civil rights and legal aid organization, now stands exposed.

Its carefully cultivated image as a champion of justice has been shattered by a shocking federal indictment that alleges years of fraud and sowing hatred and divisiveness across American society.

For decades, the Southern Poverty Law Center, founded in the 1970s, basked in its reputation as a humanitarian force—advocating for the poor and taking on violent hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who terrorized black people and Jews.

That vaunted legacy is collapsing in the wake of bombshell allegations from the DOJ that the group has been engaged for years in bank and wire fraud, and a total perversion of its mission.

The indictment alleges that the Southern Poverty Law Center improperly raised millions of dollars to pay informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and other racist groups—and to incite these groups to acts of violence—while creating fake companies and bank accounts to hide the money trail.

This alleged stealthy activity ensured a steady flow of donations to an organization that professed to be combating racism but was keeping itself in business by fomenting it.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche in a news conference. The group “defrauded donors by secretly using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting.”

“To covertly pay its field sources, the SPLC opened bank accounts connected to a series of fictitious entities,” the 11-page indictment alleges. None of these businesses ever existed. No customers. No vendors. No products or services.

Then, to convince the banks to open accounts for their invisible businesses, the SPLC allegedly lied on the account applications.

The scheme ran smoothly until 2021, when one of the banks investigated SPLC’s accounts, discovered they were fictitious, and shut them down. The management compelled the SPLC to sign a letter confirming that they were all fake and actually owned by the SPLC.

In what might be the prosecution’s lynchpin, the DOJ claims to have this explosive letter.

The indictment seeks criminal forfeiture of the SPLC’S assets, which the document has assessed as close to $800 million.

AG Blanche said early this week that the investigation has “been going on for a long time,” adding that it was “shut down” during the Biden administration before being revived during President Trump’s second term.

SPLC made a profitable business out of casting America as overrun with hate groups, explained FBI Director Kash Patel. The group campaigned successfully on a slogan of “Stop the hate!”

“They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very groups, in many cases facilitating the commission of state and federal crimes,” Patel said.

Payments of at least $3 million were disbursed to people affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, and other extremist groups, according to prosecutors.

Smear Tactics

From being a staunch advocate for the poor, SPLC has allegedly morphed since the 1990s into an embodiment of left-wing woke ideology. It has used its considerable clout to malign conservative and religious groups as “haters” and “domestic terrorists.”

This week’s indictment was not the first time the SPLC has been embroiled in scandal. House Republicans hosted a hearing centered on the SPLC in December, saying it coordinated efforts with Biden’s Democratic administration “to target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”

The SPLC became a useful tool for those on the Left to demonize conservatives, particularly during the Biden administration. Former President Biden met personally with SPLC staff six times, and the SPLC was invited to the White House numerous times to meet with Administration officials, according to DOJ documents.

At these meetings, the SPLC shared research and gave input on parents they were monitoring, whose only offense was challenging their school board over curriculum materials that taught children as young as kindergarteners about deviant lifestyles.

The Biden administration worked with the National School Board Association to draft a letter comparing these parents to “domestic terrorists” and encouraging the government to use the Patriot Act to hold them accountable.

Bryan Fair, interim chief executive of the SPLC, said in a statement that the organization is still reviewing the charges, but that after witnessing the Justice Department’s news conference, they are “outraged by the false allegations.”

Fair said the organization “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.”

Federal Indictment:
SPLC Aided Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville Riot

One of the most serious claims in the indictment involves the infamous Aug. 11, 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—when a mob of white nationalists, including neo-Nazis and KKK members, marched across a college campus and clashed with counter-protestors.

The indictment specifies that the SPLC paid $270,000 to a notorious racist who helped plan and organize the infamous rally, including the acquisition of racist posters, and helped to coordinate transportation for other participants to pump up attendance.

That night, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and other white supremacists marched through the University of Virginia campus bearing torches and terrorizing students with white supremacist and anti-Semitic slogans and chants, the indictment says.

The protest turned deadly when a car driven by a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi plowed through a crowd, killing a 32 year-old woman and injuring dozens.

Democrats and their media propaganda arms used the tragic incident to concoct a complete fiction to malign President Trump during his first term. They seized on his comment that “there are fine people on both sides” (among the protestors and counter-protesters) to portray him as lavishing praise on right-wing bigots.

They would fundraise on that lie for years, deliberately omitting the rest of Trump’s comment: “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”

The Left’s spin on the incident turned into a huge propaganda coup for Democrats. Joe Biden has claimed it was the inspiration for his 2020 presidential bid, while faulting Donald Trump for emboldening the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and even the Ku Klux Klan. [See Sidebar]

The ‘Hate Map’

Critics say the SPLC’S incitement has contributed to a political landscape in America today that justifies violence when those acts are aimed at “stopping racism” or “combatting fascism.”

Central to the group’s tactics is a widely cited “Hate Map,” which is used to malign mainstream conservative organizations. The map has expanded to include groups such as Moms for Liberty—parents who oppose woke indoctrination in their children’s school curriculum—as well as Turning Point USA, the largest conservative grassroots youth movement in the country.

By redefining “hate” to include conservative opposition to progressive or “woke” ideology, SPLC has fostered a political climate in which violence and even murder are acceptable forms of protest.

This climate intensified during the administration of Joe Biden, as federal authorities sought out the SPLC for inside information regarding parents opposed to teaching kids critical race theory (CRT) and other woke priorities, because they were supposedly “domestic terrorists.”

“Some conservatives mock the SPLC for ridiculous examples like this, but the ‘hate’ accusations are deadly serious,” writes investigative journalist Tyler O’neil in his book, Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

He offers two concrete examples of radicalized or psychotic people using the ‘hate map’ as their justification in carrying out murderous attacks on ideological opponents.

In 2012, a terrorist brought the SPLC “hate map” to the attack he carried out on the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., “aiming to kill everyone in the building,” the book details. “A brave building manager foiled his attack, but was wounded in the process. The shooter is presently serving a 25-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to three felonies.”

And earlier this year, the SPLC added the aforementioned Turning Point USA to the “hate map.” The group was founded and led by activist Charlie Kirk who vigorously backed President Trump and was an outspoken supporter of Israel.

A few months after being added to SPLC’S “hate map,” Kirk was assassinated. The man charged with his murder had reportedly texted his roommate about Kirk, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Despite a perfunctory condemnation of the violence and killing, the SPLC has failed to remove Turning Point USA and Family Research Council from the “hate map.”

“This organization is a left-wing smear factory,” O’neil said in a 2024 interview for the Heritage Foundation. “One of its major goals is to go after and silence its political opponents. Many of those opponents are really good people who are just trying to stand up for their rights in a politically-charged environment.”

“I think it’s incumbent upon us to recognize, when the nation’s highest elected official is using a group like this to silence the American people,” O’neill added, “that is a huge red flag, and we should be paying attention.”

A Scheme That Does More than Pay the Bills

While the “hate map” has inspired violence, it also likely helps pay the bills, writes Daily Signal author O’neill. The author noted that SPLC’S most recent Form 990 listed $786.7 million in net assets as of Oct. 2024. In addition, the group also has millions in offshore accounts.

Before the 2026 indictment, FBI Director Patel had already taken steps to sever the FBI’s relationship with the SPLC in October 2025. After assuming directorship of the FBI under the Trump administration last year, Patel explained the reason for the relationship’s termination, saying the center had been turned into a “partisan smear machine.”

He accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its notorious “hate map” that re-cast benign dissent as anti-government activity.

“Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership,” the FBI director said. He said his decision was in line with the bureau’s new goals to not rely on “agenda-driven intelligence from outside groups.

“Under this FBI,” he announced, “all ties with the SPLC have officially been terminated.”