Southern Poverty Law Center pleads not guilty in federal fraud case

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges related to allegations the organization committed fraud and conspired to money launder.The 11-count indictment filed last month accuses the civil rights organization of committing fraud in connection to a program in which it paid informants to monitor rightwing extremist groups. The program no longer exists. The investigation is being handled by the US attorney for the middle district of Alabama, which includes Montgomery, the state capital.“The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong; they are based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law,” Bryan Fair, the organization’s interim president and CEO, said in a statement after the charges were filed. “Our informant program was successful in accomplishing its purposes: Threats and attacks were prevented, criminal activity was stopped, and information was gathered to dismantle the efforts of hate and extremist groups. There is no question that the information the SPLC shared with law enforcement saved lives.”Legal experts have said the case against SPLC is weak. Donald Trump and allies have nonetheless touted the case to attack the organization and raise doubts about rightwing extremism.Prosecutors alleged the SPLC covertly funneled more than $3m to confidential sources within extremist groups between 2014 and 2023. They accuse officials at the SPLC of lying to donors when they told them their money would be used to “dismantle” violent extremist groups, when it was allegedly being used to pay leaders in the violent groups. Prosecutors say the organization also lied to banks about who owned the entities.It was “very odd” to charge a corporate entity with these crimes, said Andrew Tessman, a former federal prosecutor who handled financial fraud cases, who predicted the government would not be able to prove its case at trial.The investigation comes as the Trump Administration has pledged to crack down on non-profit groups opposed to its priorities. Conservative groups have long decried the way the SPLC has labelled certain right-leaning groups as “hate groups”.