Southern Poverty Law Center faces fraud and money laundering allegations

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Judiciary Committee convened on Capitol Hill today to examine recent allegations against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[00:00:07]Specifically, whether or not it diverted donor funds and mislabeled conservative groups as hate organizations. The national news desk Jeff Harris joins us.

[00:00:17]Jeff, we know the details of those allegations were just shared in a criminal indictment unsealed by the Justice Department. Tell us more about today's hearing. So, titled the Southern Poverty Law Center Manufacturing Hate, the House Judiciary Committee examining the role the SPLC played in allegedly distorting civil rights policy in recent years. Republican Chairman Jim Jordan from Ohio opening the hearing earlier today with an explosive statement accusing the center of running a quote scam. Turned out for them, creating hate was more profitable than fighting it.

[00:00:50]That's exactly what they did. During a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee examining recent allegations of financial fraud against the Southern Poverty Law Center. Among the witnesses testifying, Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

[00:01:07]The attack on SPLC is nothing more than part of a larger, broader, coordinated attack on civil rights organizations.

[00:01:16]Also, Dr. Carol Swain, who says she faced a smear campaign after publishing an article over 15 years ago arguing the SPLC drifted from targeting hate groups to mainstream conservatives. In October 2009, SPLC spokesman Mark Potok publicly labeled me as an apologist for white supremacists. Now, Jordan, among other Republican lawmakers, pressing Wiley throughout the hearing about the SPLC's use of donor funds to pay informants to monitor extremist groups. Is that technique appropriate? That's what I'm asking.

[00:01:49]>> That is not unlawful to say that people have done unlawful things.

[00:01:54]>> lawful or unlawful, as you said earlier in your testimony, the court's going to determine that when they go to trial when they when they when they go to trial. What I'm asking you, is it appropriate?

[00:02:02]As I said, the donors have spoken. The hearing comes following an 11-count criminal indictment. The DOJ charging the SPLC with massive financial fraud and money laundering, allegedly defrauding its donor network by using charitable funds to financially sustain the extremist groups it claimed to fight, using shell companies to funnel over $3 million to extremist groups, including the KKK, between 2014 and 2023. The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred. Meanwhile, many Democrats strongly defending the center, citing their historic role in fighting white supremacy and racist terror plots. What its donors love about the Southern Poverty Law Center is how effective it's been getting on the inside of extremely dangerous racial terrorist groups to find out what's going on, to try to stop the reign of terror of bombings, assaults, lynching, and arson.

[00:03:04]Now, the indictment includes six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The center continues to say it's not guilty, calling the charges a political attack.

[00:03:16]Reporting for the national news desk, I'm Jeff Harris. Its reputation calling out [music] hate and extremism is now facing serious allegations. It helped fund the very hate to build a political narrative against mainstream conservative groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center now facing federal fraud and money laundering charges, accused of using donor money to pay informants millions of dollars inside those groups, all while taxpayer dollars helped push its materials into public schools across America. Joining us now to discuss is Rachel O'Brien, deputy public policy editor at openthebooks.com. Good morning to you, Rachel. You know, the the SPLC has spent years labeling mainstream conservative groups as extremist, so now they themselves are facing this 11-count indictment. So, what are the details of this federal investigation? Yeah, good morning, Jan. So, the FBI and the IRS, they investigated the SPLC and then federal prosecutors in Alabama indicted them where their where their headquarters are. So, um the claims are that SPLC paid informants um within eight hate groups, including the KKK and other neo-Nazi groups. They paid them $3 million over 10 years um in order to keep the informant's identity a secret, they set up uh secret bank accounts SPLC for fake businesses. They they gave them names like Fox Photography and Rare Books Warehouse um to hide its true destination. Uh and so they were charged with wire fraud, uh making false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Um and then there's also a civil investigation by the Alabama attorney general. His office uh he'll determine whether the group used deceptive fundraising practices uh under state law, you know, and hid where the true donor money was going and lied to their donors.

[00:05:00]>> Also, the organization has received millions connected to public education.

[00:05:05]A lot of folks probably don't know about this. How much taxpayer money are we talking about and where did it go?

[00:05:11]It's hard to say completely what we were able to find is that since 2017 at least 3.9 million has gone to the nonprofit in taxpayer money.

[00:05:20]Um at least 1.4 of that was paid directly to the Southern Poverty Law Center from school districts, cities, counties, states, universities. Most of the payments we found are about more than 60 payments we found, they lack an explanation uh what it was used for. But the the small amount of of uh descriptions we were able to find suggest it was payment for things like materials, speakers, or licensing fees. So, some of the spending is predictable, comes from New York City and Chicago.

[00:05:49]But other payments come from places like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Kansas.

[00:05:54]And so they were paying for really, you know, classroom materials. Then there's a a two and a half million dollar grant from the NIH that went to programming that was used to create essentially a local middle school program and afterschool program that uses the curriculum from Southern Poverty Law Center.

[00:06:16]We think there's a lot more like that.

[00:06:18]It's just hard to find because they don't always label it properly.

[00:06:20]>> The bottom line in all of this though is that these payments went to the Southern Poverty Law Center indirectly or directly to help spread their teaching materials again in public school ca- classroom settings. So here's an organization targeting mainstream conservative groups receiving taxpayer dollars for years that now have influence inside American classrooms.

[00:06:41]What are these kids being taught through some of these programs?

[00:06:45]They're being taught really very not not mainstream, certainly not conservative ideas, very destructive ideas some people would argue. You know, so that afterschool curriculum that we looked at that included lessons on white supremacy, media stereotypes, LG BTQ appreciation and solidarity.

[00:07:06]And this is a group that puts organizations on their hate list without any check. There's no way to get removed from it. They simply name you a hate group and you're on it. So we saw that at least two school districts, Cincinnati and Penfield Central School District in Upstate New York, they made payments for this Teaching Tolerance curriculum.

[00:07:27]They also have the Southern Poverty Law Center has on their website, you know, various resources including something called the Social Justice Standards. And they provide a roadmap to teach on every grade level uh, on identity, diversity, justice, and action. Um, and you know, the issue here is that this is a radical ideology that's taken hold in schools.

[00:07:47]And again, it's often [clears throat] hard to find. We can't We don't see a lot of it showing up in spending data because a lot of it is free. Um, or it's diverted through a different source.

[00:07:57]>> And it's all coming from taxpayers.

[00:07:58]>> there's likely millions of dollars worth of materials and resources we don't know about, right? And it's coming from this organization that regularly attacks mainstream organizations. They have the American College of Pediatricians on the same list as the KKK. Um, so that's an organization uh, should have no [clears throat] role in in teaching children at all.

[00:08:17]>> all that money coming from taxpayers watching right now from home. Rachel O'Brien, deputy public policy editor at openthebooks.com. Thank you so much for joining us. Have a great weekend. Happy Memorial Day weekend to you.

[00:08:26]>> Happy Memorial Day. Thanks, Jen.