SPLC Interim CEO Testifies Before House Judiciary Committee Amid Federal Fraud Indictment and Organization’s Defense

Bryan Fair, interim CEO and President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The appearance follows an 11-count federal indictment secured against the organization in April and a superseding indictment filed last week in the Middle District of Alabama.

The superseding indictment alleges the Southern Poverty Law Center covertly transferred more than $4 million in donor funds to bank accounts under fictitious names between 2010 and 2023.

Prosecutors say the payments went to members of groups including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, and the Aryan Nation. One employee paid two Klan members $1,200 per month to remain in the organization after they sought help exiting in 2010, according to the indictment.

Some of the funds were used for recruitment and to reimburse expenses tied to cross-burnings and Ku Klux Klan attire, the indictment states.

Federal prosecutors also allege one informant paid more than $270,000 by the center helped plan the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and made racist postings under SPLC supervision. The Southern Poverty Law Center operated the informant program from 2010 to 2023.

7 million in 2010 to more than $129 million in 2023, a 233 percent increase, according to the superseding indictment.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is examining the center’s ties to the Biden administration on civil rights issues. Jordan’s panel subpoenaed the organization in May for documents related to alleged coordination with the administration and the hiring of extremist-group members as field sources. The committee’s investigation began before the criminal charges were filed.

"For me, the biggest takeaway is the fact that the Biden White House and the Biden Justice Department helped make the Southern Poverty Law Center the standard," Jordan told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week. Rep. " The Southern Poverty Law Center has denied wrongdoing and described the charges as politically motivated.

SPLC counsel Abbe Lowell said the organization did not lie to donors, did not mislead banks, and that its informant program prevented violence and saved lives. Rep. , called the Republican-led probe "misplaced and misguided" and said it targets an organization that has led efforts against antisemitism and white nationalism.

She added that other organizations should be examined if the concern is groups that spread hate. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr. and chair of the American Dream at the America First Policy Institute, and Ryan Bangert, senior vice president for strategic initiatives at Alliance Defending Freedom, are also scheduled to testify on Tuesday.