Jocelyn Benson served on the SPLC board during the time alleged payments were made to extremist informants.

Charges Against Southern Poverty Law Center

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, was on the board of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) during a time when the organization allegedly misled donors. Reports suggest they paid “informants” in groups labeled as “extremist.”

Recently, the Department of Justice revealed that an Alabama grand jury has indicted SPLC on 11 counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. Benson is currently campaigning to succeed Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Her tenure on the SPLC Board spanned from 2014 to 2019. During that period, the organization, which acted as investigative reporters, claimed to have infiltrated white supremacist groups.

According to the indictment, donations were used to support leaders of racist outfits like the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nation, often without the donors’ knowledge. Notably, one individual involved in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville served as a “source” for SPLC.

The indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2023, SPLC paid around $3 million to these informants, which includes Benson’s time on the board. A spokesperson from Benson’s office reached out to inquire about her gubernatorial campaign but did not receive an immediate response from her campaign team.

Benson has previously mentioned in a memoir that during her investigations for SPLC, she posed as a freelance journalist to penetrate white supremacist circles. She claimed her efforts led to thwarting violent plots and dismantling such groups.

In her book, “Warrior with a Purpose,” Benson states, “I developed a deep understanding of how extremist rhetoric and ideology leads to actual violence directed at individuals, communities, and sometimes entire countries.” She believes this understanding prepared her for the challenges she faced while overseeing the 2020 presidential election.

Democratic leaders have denounced the charges against SPLC, an organization that has been criticized in the past for labeling conservative groups as hateful. In recent years, it categorized Parents for Education and similar groups in this way.

In 2025, SPLC included Turning Point USA on its “hate map,” just a few months before the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk, at a Utah Valley University event. Past incidents show that such designations have led to violence; the shooter who targeted the Family Research Council in 2012 used SPLC’s “hate map” as a reference.

In March 2023, an attorney affiliated with SPLC faced domestic terrorism charges related to a riot at a law enforcement training facility in Atlanta. The organization responded by blaming law enforcement.