SPLC Indicted on 11 Federal Counts: Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, and the Secret Informant Program That Defrauded Donors

# SPLC Indicted on 11 Federal Counts: Wire Fraud, Money Laundering, and the Secret Informant Program That Defrauded Donors

> **Quick answer:** A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center on April 21, 2026, charging the civil rights nonprofit with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The DOJ alleges the SPLC secretly paid more than $3 million in donor funds to informants embedded inside the KKK, neo-Nazi, and other extremist groups from 2014 to 2023, concealing the payments through five fictitious shell entities. The SPLC calls the charges "false" and "politically motivated."

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The Southern Poverty Law Center — one of the most prominent civil rights nonprofits in the United States, known for its "hate group" designations and multi-hundred-million-dollar endowment — was indicted on federal fraud charges on April 21, 2026, making it one of the most consequential prosecutions of a major nonprofit organization in recent American history. The case turns on a single, explosive allegation: that the SPLC raised money by telling donors their funds would fight white supremacy, then secretly paid those same white supremacists as undercover informants.

## The 11 Counts: What the Federal Grand Jury Actually Charged

The indictment, handed up in the Middle District of Alabama and announced by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, charges the Southern Poverty Law Center with: