The Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly paid at least three people who wanted to leave the white supremacist movement not to do so, according to the Justice Department’s superseding indictment handed down Tuesday.
A federal grand jury in April had indicted the SPLC on charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering. The SPLC has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
While the organization “purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press conference that “the SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose.”
The charges revolve around the SPLC’s program paying “field sources” inside white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups. The organization has maintained that it paid these informants in order to alert law enforcement to extremist violence before it happened, and some of the informants’ information did lead to prosecutions.
However, the indictment claims some of the SPLC money actually went to prop up the organizations—and the superseding indictment reveals more details of the allegations.
Where Did the SPLC Money Go?
The superseding indictment alleges that the “field sources” used the money from the Southern Poverty Law Center to grow extremist groups.
Field sources used the money to attend and host “extremist group rallies;” grow and create “new chapters of extremist groups;” recruit new members; donate to extremist group leaders; “purchase materials for cross burnings; purchase materials to make Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods;” and more.
One of the field sources, identified as “F-9,” reportedly had a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee. F-9 infiltrated the neo-Nazi organization National Alliance and received $140,000 from the SPLC. F-9 shared bank accounts with the SPLC employee, who used the cash to pay for the couple’s personal living expenses.
Getting Cold Feet
The superseding indictment alleges that the SPLC not only paid white supremacist leaders and members, but actually convinced them to stay in the extremist groups when they tried to leave the movement.
The field source identified as F-30, who led the National Socialist Party of America, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and led a faction of the Aryan Nations that had chapters in approximately 17 states, reached out to the SPLC while “seeking to get out of the white nationalist movement.”
An SPLC employee “offered F-30 a monthly salary of approximately $2,500.00 in addition to payment of expenses to continue to lead and maintain the violent extremist organization F-30 told the SPLC employee he wanted to leave,” according to the superseding indictment.
The SPLC used the shell company Rare Books to pay F-30 more than $70,000 in donor funds between 2010 and 2016, according to the indictment.
“F-30 used donors’ money to, among other things, travel to extremist rallies, host extremist rallies, donate money to leaders of other extremist organizations, recruit new members into his extremist organization, publish racist and extremist material for the purpose of recruiting new members,… and create racist paraphernalia to sell at rallies to raise money for his extremist organization,” the indictment states. “This was known to certain employees as they continued to secretly funnel donors’ money to F-30.”
Two more “field sources,” identified as F-31 and F-32, were members of a Ku Klux Klan organization who “feared for their safety from other Klan members and wanted out of the movement.” They reached out to the SPLC after seeing news reports about the center helping another person leave an extremist group.
“Despite their requests for help getting out of the movement, an SPLC employee encouraged F-31 and F-32 to stay in the movement and offered to pay them a $1,200.00 monthly salary as well as pay for expenses as incurred,” the indictment recounts. “Once they were financially backed by the SPLC to do so, F-31 and F-32 agreed to remain in the movement.”
The SPLC employee directed these field sources to falsely state they received the money for helping college students write and research essays, the indictment claims. Using this money, F-31 and F-32 “attended extremist group rallies in multiple states,” and the activity led F-31 to rise to “a leadership role within an extremist group.” In that role, “F-31 actively recruited new members using donors’ money.”
“F-32 also participated in recruiting new members using donors’ money,” the indictment adds. “In addition, an SPLC employee knew that F-32 used donors’ money to purchase material to make Ku Klux Klan garments for others.” The SPLC also allegedly reimbursed these field sources for the expenses they incurred for cross-burning events.
Forfeiture
The superseding indictment also includes forfeiture allegations. The document states that, if the SPLC is convicted of the wire fraud or conspiracy counts, it will “forfeit to the United States… property, real or personal, which represents or is traceable to the gross receipts obtained” in violating the law.
SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair will testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week.
