Thread by @realjusthuman

🧵United States v. Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc.

6 Counts of Wire Fraud
4 Counts of False Statements to Fed-Insured Bank
1 Count of Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering

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The SPLC is a 502(c)(3) based in Montgomery, AL.

The org characterizes 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."

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The SPLC is funded in part on public and corporate donations.

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SPLC's website informs donors that "Your support powers our work to confront hate, stand up to injustice, and defend our civil and human rights..."

The website further explains that donations fund publications the SPLC distributes, including "Intelligence Report," "Hatewatch," and "Intelligence Project Dispatch."

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Potential donors who click on the "Donate" button are presented with a webpage that informs them that their donations will be used to "pusure a bold action agenda to confront our country's most urgent challenges... uplift progressive candidates... [and] investigate and expos[e] candidates using hate and extremism to gain power."

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According to the indictment...

The SPLC, beginning sometime in the 1980s, started operating a covert network of informants within various violent extremist groups.

Paid "field sources" or "Fs."

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From 2014-2023 the SPLC transferred over $3 million "to Fs who associated with various violent extremists groups."

The SPLC took steps to move this money "in a clandestine manner" so as to hide the fact that it was going to people in these groups.

"That money was then used for the benefit of the individuals as well as the violent extremist groups."

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Examples:

F-37

- Member of group that planned 2017 "Unite the Right" event
- "Attended the event at the direction of the SPLC."
- Made racist posts "under the supervision of the SPLC."
- SPLC "secretly paid F-37 more than $270,000"

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F-9

- Affiliated with a neo-Nazi org
- He did fundraising for the group
- SPLC used F-9 as an source for over 20 yrs
- SPLC transferred over $1 million to F-9
- In 2014 F-9 illegally entered the HQ of the group and stole 25 boxes of docs from the neo-Nazi org
- The materials were copied in coordination with "a high-level SPLC employee who had knowledge the documents had been stolen."
- The stolen materials were later returned in a second illegal entry to the HQ
- The SPLC used information in the copied stolen materials for publications on their website

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F-39

- "Was paid ~$6,000 by the SPLC to falsely take responsibility for the theft" that F-9 had committed.

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F-unkown

-An Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America

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F-27

- Officer in the National Socialist Movement
- Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls MC
- SPLC secretly paid F-27 more than $300,000.

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F-42

- Former chairman of the National Alliance
- SPLC website had an "Extremist File" webpage about F-42
- The SPLC was also, at the same time, secretly paying F-42. ($140,000)

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F-30

- Leader of National Socialist Party of America
- Former director of the Aryan Nations
- Former member of the KKK
- SPLC website had an "Extremist File" webpage about F-30
- The SPLC was also, at the same time, secretly paying F-30. ($70,000)

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F-43

- National President of American Front
- Federal felon convicted of cross burning
- Secretly paid $19,000 by the SPLC

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F-unknown

- Member of the KKK
- Married an Exalted Cyclops of the KKK.
- The couple were involved in litigation related to the KKK
- During that same time period, the SPLC made payments to F-unknown of over $3,500.

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F-11

- One of an undisclosed number of Fs that the SPLC used to "indirectly funnel money to other violent extremist group leaders."
- The SPLC transferred over $160,000 from a fictitious entity to F-11 who then sent the funds to various violent extremist group leaders..."

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To clandestinely move funds from the SPLC to the Fs, the SPLC's Chief Financial Officer ("Employee-1") and Director of the Intelligence Project ("Employee-2") "opened a series of bank accounts at Bank-1 and Bank-2 in the name of various fictitious entities..."

a. Center Investigative Agency (“CIA”),
b. Fox Photography,
c. North West Technologies (“North West Tech”),
d. Tech Writers Group (“Tech Writers”), and
e. Rare Books Warehouse (“Rare Books”).

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Counts 1-6
Wire Fraud

SPLC "devised" "a scheme and artifice to defraud donors" "and to obtain money and property" from those donors "by materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises, and omissions."

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"The objective of the scheme and artifice was to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for."

- SPLC explicitly sought donations under
the auspices that donor money would be used to help “dismantle” violent extremist groups.
- SPLC’s solicitations for donations did not inform donors that some of the donated funds were to be used by the SPLC to pay high-level leaders of violent extremist groups and others.
- Donors were never told that some of the donated funds were used for the benefit of the violent extremist groups.
- Donors were not told that some of the donated funds would be used in the commission of state and federal crimes.

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Examples of wire transfers from SPLC's fictitious entities at Bank-1 to other bank accounts controlled by Fs.

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Counts 7-10
False Statements to a Fed-Insured Bank

"The purpose of opening these bank accounts for the fictitious entities was to be able to conduct financial transactions that made it appear as if the Fs were receiving money from the fictitious entities rather than receiving donated funds from the SPLC."

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Some of the false statements.

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"In 2020, Bank-1 conducted an internal investigation into these accounts."

This resulted in those accounts being closed and the monies in them transferred to an account in the SPLC's name.

On September 9, 2021, the SPLC's President and CEO as well as the Board Chair admitted in writing that,

"...the accounts listed below were opened for the benefit of Southern Poverty Law Center operations and operated under the Center's authority."

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Count 11
Conspiracy to Commit Concealment Money Laundering

The SPLC operated a "conspiracy to conduct financial transactions designed to conceal the true nature, source, ownership, and control of fraudulently obtained donated money the SPLC paid to Fs."

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The SPLC, after funds were moved to the Rare Books account at Bank-2, then loaded the money "onto pay cards issued to the Fs who were supposedly employees of the fictitious entity."

In moving funds this way, the SPLC "further conceal[ed] the true nature, source, ownership, and control of the donated funds the SPLC was paying to the Fs."

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After Bank-1's internal investigation prompted the closing the accounts there, the SPLC came up with a new "method of conducting financial transactions designed to conceal the true nature, source, ownership, and control of the donated funds that the SPLC was
paying to the Fs."

The SPLC used an ACH system to pay Fs with donated funds and "masked" the transactions with monikers such as "Rarebooks050" and "IPResearchCON050."

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If convicted of Counts 1-6 and/or 11, the SPLC will face forfeitures.

Guys... how much money has the SPLC raised off of their publications highlighting the same groups they were funneling money to?

How much money did they raise off of the "Unite the Right" rally that they paid a leader to help organize and directed him to attend?

In 2017 the SPLC was estimated to have financial resources of over half a billion dollars.

By 2023, that estimate was up to ~$750mil.

Those years fall within the relevant time period of this indictment...

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