DOJ: The SPLC Was ‘Paying Sources to Stoke Racial Hatred’

This morning the SLPC released a statement about a DOJ investigation into their use of paid informants. It was obvious the SPLC was trying to get ahead of the story, but it turns out they weren’t that far ahead. 

This afternoon FBI Director Kash Patel and Acting AG Todd Blanche announced an 11-count indictment against the SPLC, accusing the group of funding some of the very hate groups they claimed to be fighting.

The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to pay informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

The civil rights group faces charges including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought by the Justice Department in Alabama, where the organization is based…

Blanche said the SPLC paid at least $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to people affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America and other extremist groups.

Blanche offered a specific example of the funding, saying the SPLC had paid more than a quarter million dollars to one of the organizers of the Unite the Right rally.

Blanche said the SPLC was paying roughly $270,000 to a member of the leadership group that planned the Unite the Right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, that resulted in the death of one person and injured dozens more.

The Acting AG also described how the payments were made, through a series of sham accounts.

“It was doing the exact opposite of what its told its donors it was doing, not dismantling extremism, but funding it to carry out this scheme,” Blanche said. “SPLC created bank accounts in the name of at least five completely fictitious organizations that had no bona fide employees or legitimate business purpose.”

“The money was passed from SPLC to one sham account, to a second sham account, and then loaded onto prepaid cards to give to the members of the extremist groups,” he continued. “This was designed to shield the source of those funds, and because of this, SPLC is also charged with one count, as I said earlier, of conspiracy to commit money laundering.”

Blanche’s claim that the SPLC was funding some of the groups it claimed to be fighting may be the key line here.

“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

Acting AG Todd Blanche details allegations that the Southern Poverty Law Center was funneling donor money to extremist groups. pic.twitter.com/uGicR3wkWe

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 21, 2026

Director Patel added that in at least one case, there is evidence that funds sent by the SLPC were used to fund further crimes carried out by one of the groups. Patel also claimed the sham accounts used to send the money were an attempt by the SLPC to avoid oversight.

If you’re interested in reading the indictment it’s here. I think the big takeaway is that, for years, the SPLC was raising money to fight hate while it was also sending thousands of dollars to people like the National President of American Front who’d previously been convicted of a cross burning. I don’t know if they can get a conviction with this indictment but it seems like it might have a dramatic impact on the willingness of people to donate to the SLPC.

Here’s the full press conference which includes some off-topic questions about Director Patel’s lawsuit.

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