SPLC Used Paid Informants Inside Ku Klux Klan to Gather Intelligence

Federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment Tuesday in Montgomery, Alabama, against the Southern Poverty Law Center. The filing alleges the organization paid two Ku Klux Klan members identified as F-31 and F-32. The superseding indictment states the payments came from donor funds raised to expose hate groups.

The two individuals approached the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010 seeking to leave the Klan, according to the court filing. Prosecutors allege the pair instead received $1,200 per month plus expenses through a shell company called Rare Books Warehouse. Court documents state the payments covered costs for cross-burning events, including wood and fuel.

The indictment also alleges some funds were used to recruit new members and purchase white robes. Field sources allegedly used money to attend extremist rallies, host rallies, grow existing chapters, create new chapters, recruit, donate to extremist leaders, and pay living expenses, the indictment charges.

The Justice Department initially charged the Southern Poverty Law Center in April with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and money laundering conspiracy.

The superseding indictment does not contain any new charges or name new defendants from the original version returned in April. 1 million in payments were made to field sources between 2014 and 2023. The eight informants included a Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard and a leader of a chat group that organized the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Unite the Right field source took $270,000 from the Southern Poverty Law Center from 2015 to 2023. 2 million. The source in a romantic relationship with a Southern Poverty Law Center employee stole 25 boxes of documents from the neo-Nazi National Alliance.

The stolen documents were used as material for a story on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch website. Southern Poverty Law Center revenue increased from $38,712,628 in 2010 to $129,069,290 in 2023.

Southern Poverty Law Center’s chief financial officer and the director of its program infiltrating extremist groups opened bank accounts for fake entities including Fox Photography, Center Investigative Agency (CIA), and North West Technologies. The fictitious entities were never incorporated, had no bona fide employees, and conducted no legitimate business.

Southern Poverty Law Center efforts to infiltrate hate groups stretch back to the 1980s. Attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bryan Fair is the interim president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Justice Department alleged that the Southern Poverty Law Center reimbursed members of the Ku Klux Klan for cross-burnings.

Expenses for extremist group rallies, establishing new chapters, publishing racist paraphernalia and other extremist literature were covered.