Indictment Alleges Misuse of SPLC Funds

According to a recent superseding indictment filed by the Justice Department, an employee of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is accused of using donor money to support a romantic connection with an informant linked to a “neo-Nazi” group.

The indictment claims that this individual was covertly compensated with more than $1.2 million in donor funds from the SPLC. Out of this amount, about $140,000 was allegedly funneled to facilitate the relationship between the employee and the informant.

Additionally, the document details how SPLC employees purportedly employed a made-up “Tech Writers Group” to mask the movement of money between various bank accounts. The illicit funds traveled from the SPLC to the Tech Writers Group account and ultimately to the couple’s joint accounts. Interestingly, that $140,000—laundered in this manner—represented roughly 66% of all deposits into those accounts.

The SPLC has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding these allegations.

Doug Howard, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, stated, “This investigation remains ongoing, and the superseding indictment reflects the results of that continued work. Given the pending nature of the case, no further comment will be provided at this time.”

The Alabama-based organization has denied the allegations and took steps to dismiss the case on May 26.

According to the indictment, the employee and the informant maintained a shared residence and two bank accounts from 2015 to 2021.

Furthermore, the document alleges that the SPLC reimbursed members of the Ku Klux Klan for expenses related to cross-burning and uniforms.

The organization faces serious charges, including wire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiring to commit money laundering as a part of its field source program. If found guilty, the SPLC could be required to forfeit assets linked to these allegations.