SPLC paid for KKK cross burnings, robes and hoods, recruitment, living expenses, racist merch: explosive indictment

A superseding indictment returned by an Alabama grand jury on Tuesday has accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of secretly funneling millions in donations to informants associated with extremist groups such as the KKK, and those funds going towards the making of Klan robes and hoods as well as cross burnings and recruitment. 

The newest indictment accuses the organization of funnelling around $4.1 million in donations "to a series of fictitious accounts" that were used to pay "field sources" affiliated with extremist groups between 2014 and 2023. The original indictment from April had alleged around $3 million in funds funneled between that time period, an amount that is now far greater.

The superseding indictment retains the original 11 counts first handed down in April: six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. 

The indictment stated that donor funds paid to field sources were used to purchase materials for cross burnings and making Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods, attending and hosting extremist group rallies nationwide, creating and growing chapters of extremist groups as well as recruiting new members, making "racist paraphernalia that extremist groups sold at rallies," and paying the living expenses of field sources to allow them to "focus on their extremist groups rather than seeking other employment."

"The SPLC actively led donors to believe that their donations would be used to 'dismantle' violent extremist groups. However, the SPLC hid from donors the fact that a portion of their donated funds was being secretly used to support extremist groups and to fund their violent, racist, and extremist activities," the indictment stated. "These activities were of the same nature as the activities about which the SPLC published articles on its website and other forums in an effort to obtain donations." 

Prosecutors expanded upon the actions of field sources cited in the original indictment. One of the sources, dubbed "F-9" in the indictment, was allegedly paid over $1.2 million in donor money. The source allegedly infiltrated the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, "at the direction of the SPLC," and helped raise money for the group. He allegedly received funds from the SPLC through a bank account for the fake entity Tech Writers Group.

"The SPLC paid F-9 for over 20 years," the superseding indictment noted, also adding that an employee at the SPLC was in a romantic relationship with the field source. Around $140,000 in donors’ money was allegedly deposited into a joint bank account owned by the field source and the employee, who owned a house together, and the employee "then used donors’ money to pay the couple’s personal living expenses." 

The SPLC is also accused of funneling money to F-30, who led the National Socialist Party of America, through the fake entity Rare Books using donors’ money, with similar instances taking place with other "field sources" associated with the KKK  and other organizations. 

In May, the SPLC pleaded not guilty to the charges. Attorney Abbe Lowell said at the time, "The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong. They are based on inaccurate facts and inapplicable law."

SPLC Superseding Indictment by Hannah Nightingale