A Tuesday Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment alleged that the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) funneled money into the pockets of Ku Klux Klan leaders, neo-Nazis and an Aryan motorcycle gang.
The indictment, returned by an Alabama grand jury, charged the SPLC with 11 counts of wire fraud, issuing false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. This led an Alabama U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) to file actions to recover alleged the proceeds of the SPLC’s fraud scheme, according to a DOJ statement. (RELATED: Trump Admin Drops Hammer On Liberal Organization That Has Long Targeted Conservative Groups)
The indictment alleges the SPLC misled donors into believing their funds would go toward the organization’s goals of fighting white supremacy and hate across the United States. However, some of the money allegedly funded the organizers and heads of the same groups the SPLC claims to oppose.
The SPLC allegedly spent more than $3 million between 2014 and 2023 in donated funds on individuals described as informants, or “field sources,” the documents stated. They allegedly turned out to be either the leaders of extremist groups, or individuals charged with actively promoting them or organizing their events, according to the indictment.
According to a graphic from Fox News, the SPLC’s revenue spiked after the Unite the Right rally in 2017.
SPLC revenue before Charlotesville – $51,871,438
SPLC revenue after Charlotesville – $133,463,398The SPLC paid $270,000 to a Unite the Right Rally leader.
The “hate” grift in a single image. pic.twitter.com/arUggwSkT2
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) April 22, 2026
A member of the “online leadership chat group” that organized the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, was allegedly secretly paid over $270,000 by the SPLC.
The SPLC had attacked the Daily Caller in 2017 for previously publishing the work of Jason Kessler, another organizer of the “Unite the Right” rally. The Caller discontinued his contract upon learning of his affiliation.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – AUGUST 12: White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the “alt-right” (L) clash with counter-protesters as they enter Emancipation Park during the Unite the Right rally August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
An individual linked to the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, also served as a field source for the SPLC for more than 20 years and accumulated more than $1,000,000, the indictment alleged.
The unnamed person allegedly stole 25 boxes of the group’s documents in 2014 and coordinated payment with a senior SPLC employee for copies of the documents that the employee purportedly knew were stolen, the indictment claimed. The indictment asserted that the stolen documents were later returned to the extremist group but were partly used as the basis of a story published on the SPLC’s Hatewatch website.
Another unnamed informant falsely took the blame for the alleged theft and received $6,000 from the SPLC, according to the indictment.
Between 2014 and 2020, the SPLC paid an informant who was an officer in the National Socialist Movement and the Aryan Nations linked Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club more than $300,000, the indictment alleged.
Another field source — the reported national president of the American Front convicted for participating in cross burning — was allegedly paid $19,000 between 2016 and 2019, the indictment stated.
The DOJ also alleges that the SPLC funded members and former leaders of the KKK. One individual was the leader of the National Socialist Party of America, former director of an Aryan Nations’ faction and a former KKK member was allegedly paid more than $70,000 while still having an “Extremist File” page on the SPLC’s website.
Another member of the KKK, who was married to an Exalted Cyclops of the organization, allegedly received more than $3,500 in payments traced back to SPLC.
The SPLC also used the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America as a field source, the indictment alleged. The SPLC characterized the organization as a “millennial reboot of what was once a serious domestic threat” in a 2013 article.
VALLEY FORGE, PA – SEPTEMBER 25: A Ku Klux Klan member salutes during an American Nazi Party rally at Valley Forge National Park September 25, 2004 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)
The SPLC also allegedly used field sources to “indirectly funnel money to other violent extremist group leaders,” including the former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed in the DOJ’s press release that the SPLC is “manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”
“Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law,” his statement continued.
In a video response, SPLC Interim CEO and President Bryan Fair framed the allegations as an unsurprising attack from the Trump administration, which he claimed “have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy,” citing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) decision to cut ties with the SPLC in October.
Fair said that the use of their informants was necessary as “[the SPLC] are no strangers to threats of violence,” claiming they shared the information they gathered with local and federal law enforcement. He further stated that they “no longer work with paid informants.” (RELATED: Soros-Linked Dark Money Puts Lopsided Democrat Power Grab Across Finish Line)
“There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives,” Fair said. “Today the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people.”
The SPLC did not respond to the Caller’s request for comment as of publication.