Arecent report from the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) in the Treasury Department shows that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was a driving force behind the debanking of conservative groups prior to its indictment.
The SPLC is a left-wing anti-racism advocacy group that has faced scrutiny from conservatives for years over its alleged bias against them and penchant for labeling mainstream political figures on the right as “extremists.”
The group has also faced withering criticism from the left, such as Ken Silverstein, who followed its expelled founder Morris Dees for years for Harper’s and The New Yorker.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged the SPLC with allegedly defrauding donors by paying exorbitant sums to members of extremist groups, both to act as informants and to recruit and expand their operations.
The SPLC has denied wrongdoing in the case, and said in a statement that “The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong; they are based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law. Our informant program was successful in accomplishing its purposes: Threats and attacks were prevented, criminal activity was stopped, and information was gathered to dismantle the efforts of hate and extremist groups.”
The OCC report, released last week, detailed the efforts of financial applications, banks, and other institutions to deny service to conservative organizations, particularly highlighting the SPLC’s role. Many of the groups the report documented had been labeled as hate groups by the organization. Driving much of the effort were broad reputational risk policies that the OCC generally swept up many mainstream conservative groups.
