Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks next to FBI Director Kash Patel at a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on April 21, 2026. [Reuters/Annabelle Gordon]

A federal grand jury in Alabama on Tuesday indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 felony counts, with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel stating that the civil rights advocacy nonprofit had defrauded donors through a covert program that paid members of the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups.

The case is noteworthy as it is one of the most significant federal prosecutions brought against a major civil rights organization.

The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, charges the Montgomery, Alabama-based group with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The indictment was signed by acting U.S. Attorney Kevin P. Davidson.

At a Justice Department press conference, Blanche said prosecutors allege that the SPLC paid approximately $3 million between 2014 and 2023 to eight individuals linked to the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the American National Socialist Party, the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club associated with the Aryan Nations, and America First.

Blanche said about $270,000 was paid over eight years to one recipient identified as a leader of the group that organized the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"The SPLC did not dismantle these groups," Blanche said. "Instead, it was fostering the very extremism it claimed to oppose by paying informants to stir up racial hatred."

He said the group violated nonprofit transparency rules by never disclosing its informant program to donors.

Prosecutors allege the funds were paid through at least five shell corporations — Center Investigative Agency, Fox Photography, North West Technologies, Tech Writers Group, and Rare Books Warehouse — to prepaid debit cards.

Patel, in an X post mirroring his remarks at the press conference, stated that the SPLC "lied to its donors" and said it paid money to extremist leaders where, in at least one case, their activities were "used to facilitate state and federal crimes." He added that investigations into the individuals involved are ongoing.

The indictment names only the nonprofit organization.

The temporary CEO of the SPLC, Bryan Fair, revealed the existence of the criminal investigation Tuesday morning. After the indictment was unsealed, he denied any wrongdoing.

He said the program, which has since been discontinued, gathered information on violent groups and that it was frequently shared with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

"We are going to vigorously defend ourselves, our employees, and our work," Fair said. He linked the program to threats dating back to a 1983 firebombing of the SPLC's Montgomery office.

The case further inflames a conflict that flared in October when Patel cut ties with the FBI, calling the SPLC a "partisan disinformation machine." House Republicans held a hearing in December, accusing the group of conspiring with the Biden administration to target conservatives.

Prosecutors now will have to prove that donors were defrauded and the intent behind it. A date for arraignment on the indictment has not yet been set. 

NNP=Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter / Special Contribution NNP info@newsandpost.com