DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud over secret funding of extremist groups

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a bombshell 11-count fraud indictment accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of secretly funding leaders and organizers of white supremacist, racist and other hate groups that the civil rights group claimed to be battling.

“The SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” alleges the indictment returned by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday.

The SPLC, which is a nonprofit civil rights group, is charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering.

Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid at least $3 million to eight individuals, some of whom were associated with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club and the American Front, said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press conference.

“The SPLC was not dismantling the groups,” said Blanche, as FBI Director Kash Patel stood at his side. “It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

“One troubling example, is the SPLC was paying a member of the leadership group that planned the Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in the death of one person, and injured dozens more,” the acting attorney general said, noting that the indictment alleged that the group paid the person about $270,000 over the course of eight years.

The SPLC earlier Tuesday said it was the subject of a criminal probe by the DOJ, and that the focus of the probe appeared to be on the group’s prior use of paid, confidential informants “to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

The group’s interim CEO, Bryan Fair, in a statement responding to Blanche’s press conference, said, “We are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC — an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive.

“Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do. To be clear, this program saved lives,” Fair said.

“SPLC will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work; we will continue to fight hate; and we will continue to envision and create a safer and more just world,” he said.

FBI Director Patel in October said the FBI would sever ties with the SPLC, calling it a “partisan smear machine.”

Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that one group mentioned in the indictment is American Front. A previous version misspelled the name of the group.


https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/21/doj-southern-poverty-law-center-indictment-extremist.html

That's just job security, bro. What could be wrong with sowing constant hatred? It's the democratic way!

And you know how we know this is legit? Hakeem Jeffries is screaming like a baby that it's not.

j/c

The most recent attempts the DOJ has made at using hit pieces was nothing more than smear tactic allegations they couldn't even get indictments on. Those pertained to.....

Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.)
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)
Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.)
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.)
Rep. Chris Deluzio (Pa.)
Rep. Maggie Goodlander (N.H.)

They have a tendency of throwing around wild allegations that end up having no substance.

This may be more of the same or they may actually have a case. With their track record who knows at this point? But considering the last six times they've pretended to have the goods, I wouldn't get too giddy at this point.

At what point do you consider the strong possibility it may just be another The Boy Who Cried Wolf situation?

You make that whole thing sound like failure after failure. It was literally one incident.

As far as considering "boy who cried wolf"? A bit early, eh?

If you had paid attention you would have seen I stated it's too early to call it either way.


But please do go on as I'm sure you will.

I mean I get it. It doesn't take long until you miss me.

j/c

Here are some other things people may wish to consider before jumping to conclusions from a quick AI search......

Here are the key charges brought by the Trump DOJ that have been dropped or dismissed:

James Comey (Former FBI Director) & Letitia James (NY Attorney General): Cases against both were dismissed in late 2025 by a federal judge who found that the appointment of the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawful.

Protesters and Political Adversaries: The DOJ has faced difficulties, with various charges against protestors and critics being dropped or failing to secure convictions, often due to lack of evidence or procedural failures in what critics describe as a "clown show of failed revenge cases".

Failed Prosecution of Security Officials: Initial efforts to prosecute former intelligence officials like John Brennan faced significant hurdles, including the removal of prosecutors who doubted the strength of the cases.

Key Procedural Failures:

Illegal Appointment: Judges found that Trump loyalists appointed to lead these investigations did not meet legal requirements, leading to dismissals.

Declined Prosecutions: Career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia initially refused to file charges against Comey and James due to a lack of evidence, leading to the installation of less experienced lawyers to take over.

Revolving Door of Officials: High-ranking DOJ officials, such as Attorney General Pam Bondi, were replaced after failing to secure quick wins in these high-profile investigations.

Additional Stalled or Collapsed Actions

While not outright dismissals of indicted figures in the same vein, other retaliatory DOJ efforts have faced severe roadblocks or reversals in court:

Subpoenas Against Critics: A federal judge quashed subpoenas targeted at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Additionally, a massive wave of grand jury subpoenas issued in a "perjury case" against former CIA Director John Brennan was abruptly rescinded by the DOJ after internal pushback and the removal of the lead career prosecutor.

Actions Against Law Firms: The DOJ abandoned its defense of executive orders that had attempted to sanction prominent law firms (such as Jenner & Block and WilmerHale) that had represented Trump's political opponents or challenged his policies. Lower courts had already ruled those targeted retaliatory orders were unlawful.

As such, accusations made by the DOJ should be taken with a grain of salt.

I'll wait and see some proof. It could be true. It could be more "flooding the zone with excrement" and politicization/weaponizing of the DOJ. Claiming it is more likely one or the other at this stage - based on this administration so far ... would seem to be premature at best, foolish at worst.

Here's where I'm confused.

FBI is alleging that SPLC funded the activities that they fought against, essentially working to create/maintain a problem that gave them increased relevancy.

SPLC is saying they paid informants (individuals) to gain inside knowledge of the organizations they were working against. This seems pretty easy to prove/disprove.


It's also been reported that SPLC had worked WITH the FBI on sharing information from this very same program.