The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has accused the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of making false statements in a criminal indictment that charged the civil rights organization with fraud and money laundering for paying informants within right-wing extremist groups. In two legal briefs filed on April 21 in federal district court, the SPLC asserts that the DOJ knowingly misrepresented the organization's activities.
DOJ Allegations and SPLC Response
On April 21, the DOJ charged the SPLC, a renowned civil rights group that has monitored extremist organizations since 1971, with fraud and money laundering. The indictment alleges that the SPLC paid members of hate groups to act as informants but did not share the intelligence gathered with law enforcement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized this point in a Fox News interview, stating there was no evidence that the SPLC passed information to authorities.
The SPLC refutes this claim, stating in its briefs that it provided federal prosecutors with 15,000 documents during an April 6 meeting. These documents demonstrate that the SPLC shared actionable intelligence with both federal and local law enforcement agencies, leading to convictions and potentially preventing domestic terrorist attacks. The briefs also highlight a letter sent to DOJ prosecutors on April 17, which outlined six categories of evidence negating the SPLC's guilt. The DOJ did not respond to this letter, according to the SPLC.
Key Evidence Presented
The SPLC's defense includes a 45-page “Event Alert” document shared with the FBI ahead of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. This document, based on information from a paid informant, warned the FBI about specific individuals likely to attend and incite violence, including their names, photos, backgrounds, and weapons preferences. The rally turned violent, resulting in the death of Heather Heyer when a white supremacist drove into a crowd of counterprotesters.
The DOJ indictment specifically cites the SPLC's use of an informant embedded with Unite the Right organizers, claiming the informant made racist posts and helped coordinate transportation, suggesting the SPLC incited extremism. However, the indictment omits that the SPLC shared this intelligence with the DOJ. The Trump administration has used the indictment to label the rally a “hoax” orchestrated by the SPLC.
Prevented Attacks and Convictions
The SPLC briefs detail two additional cases where informant intelligence led to arrests. In 2019, the FBI arrested Conor Climo, a white supremacist plotting attacks on a Las Vegas synagogue and a gay bar, based on SPLC-provided intelligence. Climo pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in 2020. Also in 2019, Fred Arena, a New Jersey contractor who attended the Unite the Right rally, pleaded guilty to lying about his involvement with the white supremacist group Vanguard America when applying for a national security clearance.
The SPLC argues that the DOJ's false statements constitute misconduct that could bias the jury pool and prevent a fair trial. The organization has requested the court to order prosecutors to stop issuing false statements and to disclose the prosecutor's remarks and legal instructions to the grand jury that issued the indictment.
The DOJ has not yet responded to the SPLC's allegations.
