Federal prosecutors on Tuesday (April 21) charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud, accusing the prominent civil rights group of misleading donors while paying informants to infiltrate extremist organizations it publicly tracks.
The indictment, announced by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, includes six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors allege that between 2014 and 2023, the organization directed more than $3 million to individuals associated with groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement.
At a news conference, Blanche said the organization misrepresented how donor funds would be used and alleged that the group, known for monitoring hate groups and sharing research with law enforcement, instead financed individuals embedded within those same networks.
REPORTER: I just want to make sure I understand. You're alleging that the Southern Poverty Law Center was paying the leaders of KKK and other groups?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2026
BLANCHE: I'm not alleging it. The grand jury returned an indictment that says that pic.twitter.com/RwiQLpxCYR
According to the indictment, one individual connected to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, received more than $270,000. Another informant was paid more than $1 million over nearly a decade after infiltrating extremist circles and providing internal documents.
Leaders of the Alabama-based nonprofit denied wrongdoing and said they intend to contest the charges. Interim leader Bryan Fair said the organization used informants to monitor threats and prevent violence, and that information gathered was often shared with federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
“We are outraged by the false allegations,” Fair said in a statement, adding that the group would defend its work and staff.
“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”
The Trump administration has long had issues with the organization, and the latest lawsuit has been chalked up to an act of revenge by his critics. In 2025, the FBI ended its relationship with the group, citing concerns about bias and its methodology in identifying extremist organizations.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, founded in 1971, has played a prominent role in civil rights litigation and in tracking extremist movements in the U.S. and its intelligence-gathering efforts have drawn objections from some conservative groups, which argue they have been unfairly labeled.
The case could hinge on whether prosecutors can demonstrate that the organization knowingly deceived donors about how funds were used. The defense is expected to argue that payments to informants were part of longstanding investigative practices aimed at gathering information about violent groups.
The organization also noted that it no longer relies on paid informants and maintains that its past practices were designed to support public safety efforts and inform law enforcement.
A little background on who the Southern Poverty Law Center is and what kind of work they’ve been doing for decades makes it clear that DOJ’s indictment (which is of the center, not of any individuals) is vindictive & malicious, an attack on civil rights work itself.… pic.twitter.com/UlT4cdzOXQ
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) April 22, 2026
