Tag: splc

“YOU’VE BEEN SERVED!” MI Sec of State Jocelyn Benson Served By Former MI Attorney General Over Potential Involvement In Funding Hate Groups Like KKK While Member of SPLC Board

MCR Special Teams and the Mike Cox law firm served Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson with Southern Poverty Law Center-related court papers on Wednesday evening.

Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox recently dropped his bid for the Republican candidate for governor. The highly unpopular Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is the likely Democratic candidate running for governor after being term-limited as Secretary of State.

Jocelyn Benson, who the Gateway Pundit frequently refers to as “America’s most dishonest Secretary of State,” is familiar with lawsuits. Benson has been involved in 69 election-related lawsuits during her time as Secretary of State. That is more than the combined total of the previous four Secretaries of State.

In addition to fighting an onslaught of election integrity-related lawsuits during her corrupt reign as Michigan’s top election official, it looks like she is about to be defending herself in yet another lawsuit. This time, Benson will potentially have to explain her role as a board member of the Southern Poverty Law Center during the same time the group has been accused in a federal lawsuit of paying hate groups like the KKK.

According to a federal indictment unsealed in April 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with wire fraud, false statements, and related offenses.

Keep reading

Southern Poverty Law Center Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Fraud Charges

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on July 7 entered not guilty pleas again to 11 criminal counts alleging it defrauded donors by sending millions of dollars to informants who infiltrated white supremacist and so-called hate groups that it publicly opposed.

The fresh arraignment of the nonprofit organization under a new superseding indictment took place via videoconference before Montgomery, Alabama-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly F. Pate.

The charges, announced on April 21 by FBI Director Kash Patel and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, sparked political backlash amid growing questions about the group, which the federal government had previously used to track extremist groups with its “Hate Map” and other online resources.

The original indictment by a federal grand jury charged the SPLC with wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The group was alleged to have surreptitiously transferred more than $3 million in donated funds to leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance, between 2014 and 2023.

The government said the SPLC sent donations to bank accounts of fake entities that had names such as “Rare Books Warehouse” and “Tech Writers Group.” The accounts were then used to funnel money to alleged informants in the racist groups that it claimed to strongly oppose.

One of the informants allegedly helped to organize the “Unite the Right” protest in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly.

SPLC interim president and CEO Bryan Fair appeared in person on May 7 to plead not guilty to the same charges on behalf of the group.

On July 7, an attorney for the organization appeared by videoconference to enter 11 not guilty pleas to the superseding indictment issued last month that added more details and specifics. The new charging document did not add new charges.

The original indictment alleged $3 million in donor funds was funneled to individuals associated with extremist groups, but the new indictment increases the figure to $4.1 million.

The new indictment provides additional details such as a claim that funds were used by recipients for buying materials for cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods.

The SPLC has filed a motion to dismiss the indictment for vindictive prosecution. The group claims it is being targeted by the Trump administration for political reasons. It is unclear when the court will rule on the motion.

The SPLC is known for its successful fundraising campaigns. According to its most recent publicly available IRS filing, it had gross receipts in tax year 2023 of $339.3 million and assets of $822.2 million.

The FBI severed its relationship with the SPLC in October 2025 after conservatives criticized the group for including slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s organization on its list of hate groups. The FBI had previously used SPLC intelligence on domestic extremist groups.

Patel said the organization has turned into a “partisan smear machine” instead of a civil rights advocate.

“Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence,” he said at the time, without elaborating.

The SPLC’s Hate Map lists almost 1,400 groups, including Kirk’s Turning Point USA, categorizing it as an “antigovernment” group.

Critics have long said the Montgomery-based SPLC unfairly labels conservatives as racist as a matter of policy, treats opposition to illegal or legal immigration, open borders, and multiculturalism as hate, and political expression of those views as hate speech.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization that defends religious freedom and free speech, says the SPLC “did good work decades ago fighting segregation in the South,” but has since it has become a “far-left activist organization that attacks anyone who disagrees with its narrow political agenda.” Targets have included conservative, libertarian, anti-tax, immigration reductionist, and other groups.

In a statement issued in May, the SPLC called the charges against them “provably wrong” and “based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law.” The nonprofit said its informant program has been successful at preventing threats and attacks, stopping criminal activity, and gathering information used to dismantle hate groups.

“There is no question that the information the SPLC shared with law enforcement saved lives,” the statement reads.

It also stated that it was no stranger to legal threats and would continue its mission “no matter what.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the SPLC for comment. No reply was received by publication time.

Keep reading

When A Hate Group Tries To Destroy You: Moms For Liberty Stands Against The SPLC

The Southern Poverty Law Center placed the conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty on its “hate map” alongside the KKK, Antifa, and neo-Nazi organizations in 2023.

But last week in a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the SPLC, Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., vindicated Moms for Liberty by slamming Bryan K. Fair, the SPLC’s interim president and chief executive officer, for placing them on the map.

Tiffany asked Fair, “Why was it important for your organization to put the Moms for Liberty on a hate map?”

Fair responded, “Moms for Liberty is listed on our hate map because it demeans and vilifies people based on mutable characteristics,” he said, referring to biological sex.

Tiffany replied, “Moms for Liberty is not a racist organization. They may differ with you [regarding] gender mutilation for children … but I think that’s a fair debate to be having!”

The SPLC is a leftist advocacy group that claims to “dismantle white supremacy” and “eliminate economic inequality.” The organization started a “hate map” in 2000 to flag racist groups, but it now flags practically any organization that supports parental rights, Christianity, or opposes LGBT insanity and transgender mutilation surgery.

The SPLC has many Christian, conservative organizations besides Moms for Liberty flagged as “hate groups” on its website, leading Moms for Liberty chapter leader Alexandra Bougher to speak up on their behalf on The Vicki McKenna Show on iHeartRadio.

“People have been doxxed, swatted, lost their jobs … because of this hate map,” she said on the radio interview. “The fact that the [SPLC] has no remorse over it is disturbing.”

The hate map led to worse than a lost job in 2012 when a gunman stormed into the lobby of the Family Research Council, a conservative family and education non-profit. The gunman shot a security guard before being subdued. An FBI interrogation revealed that the shooter chose FRC after he found it on the SPLC’s hate map for being anti-LGBT.

“We as Americans should be able to disagree on things without being smeared or demonized … we don’t need to destroy someone’s life because we don’t see eye to eye,” Bougher said in the interview. The DOJ announced an 11-count indictment in April against the SPLC for fraud and false statements, and scheduled a federal trial for October. The DOJ found that the “SPLC is lying to everyone, saying that they’re warning people of hate, meanwhile funding the hate groups to make more money,” Bougher explained. “It’s absolutely sickening.”

The SPLC secretly funneled over $3 million to racist, extremist groups, including the KKK and the American Nazi Party, while simultaneously claiming to fight them between 2014 and 2023, according to the DOJ. “The objective of the scheme and artifice was to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for,” the DOJ stated.

Keep reading

New DOJ Indictment Alleges Southern Poverty Law Center Funds Went to Hoods and Cross Burnings

On June 3, a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a second, expanded set of charges building on an original April 21 indictment,  alleging that $4.1 million in tax-exempt funds paid informants inside extremist organizations who then recruited new members and purchased materials for cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods.

The new charges do not target the general practice of paying informants but the DOJ’s allegation that the SPLC made these payments without disclosing them to donors and while defrauding banks.

The superseding indictment retains the original 11 counts, six of wire fraud, four of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, while expanding the alleged misconduct to include an SPLC employee’s knowledge that donor money purchased KKK garments, fuel, and wood for cross burnings. The indictment also notes the organization’s revenue and net assets grew more than 200% between 2010 and 2023.

The original 11-count indictment, announced April 21 by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche alongside FBI Director Kash Patel, alleged the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donor funds between 2014 and 2023 to at least nine informants embedded in groups including the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, and a participant in the planning of the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally.

Prosecutors alleged the informants, known internally as “field sources” or “the Fs,” were paid through shell accounts while the SPLC publicly presented itself as working to dismantle those same groups. The SPLC pleaded not guilty and called the allegations false.

The indictment identifies eight informants by designation and specifies payments by group. One informant, F-9, was affiliated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance and received more than $1 million over nine years while fundraising for the organization. Prosecutors allege F-9 also broke into the National Alliance’s headquarters in 2014, stealing 25 boxes of documents the SPLC used in a published report, then paid a second National Alliance member $6,000 to falsely claim responsibility for the theft.

Keep reading

“DOUBLE DIPPING?” — Jim Jordan Demands Answers After Explosive Claim January 6 “Human Sources” May Have Been Paid by BOTH Biden DOJ and SPLC

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan just dropped another political bombshell tied to January 6.

During a fiery interview Thursday, Jordan revealed that congressional investigators are now probing whether confidential human sources operating around January 6 may have been receiving money not only from the Biden Justice Department, but also from the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.

In other words: federally connected informants potentially “double dipping” while infiltrating groups tied to January 6.

Jordan made the remarks while discussing a new subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee as Republicans intensify their investigation into the SPLC and its alleged network of paid “field sources.”

Rep. Jordan: “Here’s a key question I have too. Were any of the guys they were paying— was the Biden Justice Department paying these same guys confidential human sources? We know 26 confidential human sources were at the Capitol on January 6th. 4 went in the Capitol. They weren’t authorized to do so. I want to know if any of these guys were double dipping and taking money from the government and from the Southern Poverty Law Center. That’s one of the things we want to find out. That would be another new chapter if true and if proven.”

Keep reading

Biden DOJ Protected the SPLC Grift Because the Hate Group Was Literally Training Its Prosecutors: Report

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-4) exposed how the Biden Justice Department opened—then deliberately shelved—a criminal investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). 

Jordan claimed the previous administration’s DOJ, under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, discovered the SPLC was operating what has been described as a lucrative scam. 

“They had opened an investigation. They were looking into this group. They knew the Southern Poverty Law Center was running a scam, but they dropped the case,” Jordan said. 

He detailed how the group had become so deeply embedded with the department, training prosecutors and serving as a key source for efforts that labeled pro-life Catholics and conservatives as domestic extremists.

“When you meet with them, consult with them, have them train your prosecutors, well, guess what? You’re not gonna prosecute them,” Jordan explained. “They’re too valuable politically. You gotta use them for your political advantage. And that’s exactly what the Biden administration did.”

The Ohio congressman noted how the SPLC used the now-infamous “Richmond Memo” in an effort to portray traditional Catholics as politically extremist. 

“That memo says, if you’re a pro-life Catholic, well, you’re an extremist, you’re dangerous,” Jordan said. “The SPLC became part of the weaponized effort of the Garland Biden Justice Department against the American people.”

Jordan also highlighted a stunning example from the SPLC’s own operations that underscores the alleged hate-for-profit model, which has been covered here at RedState. The Justice Department last month filed an 11-count federal indictment charging the SPLC with wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering for secretly funneling more than $3 million in donor cash to actual extremists.

Among those nefarious payments was a staggering $270,000 allegedly paid to a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. That paid insider attended the event at the SPLC’s direction, helped coordinate transportation for attendees, and even made racist postings under the group’s supervision.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center almost tripled their income. They went from $51 million annual income to $133 million,” Jordan said. “Turned out for them, creating hate was more profitable than fighting it. That’s exactly what they did. They ran a scam, they became the standard, they didn’t get prosecuted, and they made a ton of money.”

That rally, of course, led to the wholly media-manufactured “fine people” hoax. As Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche noted, the group had been caught “manufacturing racism,” which, in this particular case, indirectly led to the death of a rally attendee.

Keep reading

Alabama AG Announces Civil Investigation into Southern Poverty Law Center Alleging Deceptive Fundraising Practices Under State’s Consumer Protection Statutes

In April, the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on 11 counts, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering.

The SPLC was indicted for secretly funneling more than $3 million in funds to members of white supremacist and extremist groups, the DOJ said.

A grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the SPLC.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the grand jury indicted the SPLC on 6 counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Now, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has announced a civil investigation into the organization, alleging deceptive fundraising practices under the State’s consumer protection statutes.

Keep reading

Big Finance Might Be Dooming the SPLC — Even Before Its Day in Court

The Southern Poverty Law Center is preparing for the legal fight of its life with the U.S. government — but its most immediate threat is coming from the financial system, rather than the courts.

Fidelity Charitable, Charles Schwab affiliate DAFgiving360, and Vanguard Charitable have begun blocking donor-advised fund, or DAF, donations to the SPLC — effectively cutting off one of the organization’s most important funding pipelines at a critical moment. The decision arrives alongside a politicized and bogus indictment announced late last month by the Trump Department of Justice, which is attempting to paint one of the country’s most prominent watchdogs against hate and racial violence as a promoter of it.

A letter from Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Mary Gay Scanlon notes the House Judiciary Committee has received whistleblower reports that the DOJ “ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama to rush through the indictment of the SPLC despite serious concerns about the strength of the case.” As Alabama Reflector editor Brian Lyman wrote, “DOJ has no evidence of SPLC committing a crime. The organization’s real offense, in the eyes of Trump’s toadies, is its lack of obedience.”

But before any courts can assess the merits of the case, the SPLC is already suffering severe financial consequences.

Donor-advised funds have become a key part of American philanthropy. Managed by firms like Fidelity and Vanguard, DAFs allow donors to receive immediate tax benefits while recommending grants to IRS-recognized nonprofits over time. They are one of the primary channels many nonprofits use to connect with donors.

Keep reading

SPLC Leader Pleads NOT GUILTY To Charges Of Funnelling Millions To Neo-Nazis

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s leader entered a not guilty plea Thursday in federal court, desperately fighting charges that the organization defrauded its donors by secretly funneling more than $3 million to the very white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups it claimed to oppose.

The SPLC was forced to respond to an 11-count indictment from the Trump DOJ, including six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and false statements, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

Commentators are labelling the case one of the biggest scams ever to be exposed.

The SPLC is accused of making payments amounting to over $1 million to a National Alliance affiliate, more than $300,000 to an Aryan Nations affiliate, $270,000 to a “Unite the Right” member, $140,000 to a former National Alliance chairman, $73,000 to former KKK members, and $19,000 to an American Front president and felon.

The court appearance comes just weeks after the Trump DOJ’s indictment exposed the scheme. 

Keep reading

Jon Ossoff silent on SPLC indictment after taking more than $700K from affiliate of indicted group

Federal prosecutors’ stunning indictment of a left-wing activist group for alleged financial crimes is reverberating in Georgia’s 2026 Senate race, with Republicans targeting Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., for his past ties to the organization. 

The Department of Justice brought criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center in April for allegedly defrauding its donors by secretly transferring money to extremist groups with the goal of infiltrating and monitoring their activities. 

Ossoff, the most vulnerable Senate Democrat running for re-election in 2026, is endorsed by the law center’s 501(c)(4) arm. The group contributed more than $700,000 to his campaign account in 2020, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.

The Georgia Democrat has also praised the group’s purported efforts to combat racism.

“Thank you for decades of work defending civil rights in the United States,” Ossoff said in a video celebrating the nonprofit group’s 50th anniversary in November 2021.

“I’m deeply concerned, like many of you, by the rising level of polarization, hatred and mistrust in our society,” he added. “We must recommit to the path of love, tolerance and peaceful coexistence if we are to flourish as a nation and as a world.”

During that time, federal prosecutors allege that instead of combating extremism, the SPLC was providing financial support to organizations that spread it.

Between 2014 and 2023, the Alabama-based organization paid more than $3 million to informants belonging to the United Klans of America, the Aryan Nation and other neo-Nazi groups, according to the 11-count indictment, which included charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The group allegedly concealed the payments by setting up bank accounts under fictitious names and did not inform federal law enforcement about their activities.

Keep reading