Texas Attorney General Opens Investigation into Southern Poverty Law Center

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a new investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday. The inquiry focuses on the Alabama-based nonprofit and allegations tied to its funding of certain groups. Paxton said his office will examine whether the organization solicited donations from Texans under potentially misleading pretenses and whether its representations about activities complied with state law.

The investigation follows federal prosecutors' accusations that the group improperly used more than $3 million in donor funds to pay informants connected to organizations including the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations affiliates.

A federal magistrate judge in Montgomery set an Oct. 5 jury trial in the criminal fraud case against the Southern Poverty Law Center. m. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks. The organization pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges on May 7. It has said federal authorities were aware of aspects of its informant program for years and that the program was designed to gather intelligence to prevent extremist violence.

Paxton stated that donors deserve to know if they have been manipulated into supporting a nonprofit that gives millions of dollars to groups they thought they were opposing. The Southern Poverty Law Center has denied wrongdoing and previously called the allegations provably wrong.