FBI Director Kash Patel ended the agency’s collaboration with SPLC in October 2025. Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche outlined the indictment against the nonprofit at an April 21 DOJ press conference.
In an April 21 indictment, the U.S. Department of Justice charged the Southern Poverty Law Center with wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The full indictment details SPLC’s collaboration with and payment of an informant, F-37, who was a member of an “online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC.”
The indictment further alleges that SPLC directed the informant to make racist posts, and that F-37 helped coordinate transportation for Unite the Right attendees. The DOJ alleges F-37 was paid more than $270,000 by SPLC between 2015 and 2023.
“Donors gave their money believing they were supporting the fight against violent extremism,” said Kevin Davidson, acting United States attorney, in an April 21 DOJ press release. “As alleged, the SPLC instead diverted a portion of those funds to benefit individuals and groups they claimed to oppose. That kind of deception undermines public trust and social cohesion.”
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”
In an April 25 analysis published to Just Security, Andrew Weissmann (who previously served as lead prosecutor in Robert Mueller’s special counsel’s office, chief of the fraud section of the DOJ, and as general counsel for the FBI) took issue with the indictment and Blanche’s comments.
“[The DOJ and FBI] received from the Center itself the negative information about these groups. … That proof is now going to be a weapon that the Center can wield against the Department’s indictment,” wrote Weissmann.
Weissmann asserts that Blanche’s statement “is consistent with the far-right talking point that it was the ‘left’ that was behind the events in Charlottesville and J6—a contention that is devoid of proof, and makes little sense in any event since this Administration does not condemn either event.”
Founded in 1971, SPLC describes itself as “a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.” Infiltration of extremist groups has been part of the nonprofit’s MO for decades. FBI Director Kash Patel cut ties with the group in October 2025, ending years of collaboration between SPLC and the federal government.
