OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:03 PM – Wednesday, June 3, 2026
A federal grand jury has issued a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), leveling shocking new allegations that the prominent far-left civil rights organization utilized tax-exempt donor funds to buy materials for Ku Klux Klan cross-burnings, robes, and hoods.
The latest legal development, filed on Tuesday this week, expands upon an earlier federal fraud case initially brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 21st, which accuses the Alabama-based non-profit of running a multi-million dollar covert operation that financed the very extremist groups it publicly denounced.
According to federal prosecutors, the organization defrauded its base of donors by secretly funneling $4.1 million into a network of active members and paid informants operating inside White supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations between 2010 and 2023.
The freshly detailed indictment alleges that the SPLC’s secret financial network did not merely observe extremist groups from afar but actively cross-subsidized their operations. Federal authorities say that the organization financed the manufacturing of racist paraphernalia, organized meetings for extremist groups, and directly purchased supplies used to facilitate state and federal crimes, specifically citing Ku Klux Klan cross-burnings.
The DOJ contends that by routing money through hidden bank accounts and prepaid debit cards to senior hate group figures — including the Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America — the SPLC effectively sustained and promoted White supremacist networks to validate its corporate mission and fundraising appeals.
The SPLC has since denied the criminal allegations, describing the prosecution as a politically motivated attack. SPLC leadership defended what they referred to as their “historical practice” of maintaining an “undercover informant network” — domestically referred to within the center as “the Fs” since the 1980s — arguing that infiltrating these networks was a “dangerous but necessary means to gather critical intelligence, counter violent threats and protect marginalized communities.”
SPLC officials claim further that the intelligence gathered by their field sources was routinely turned over to federal and local law enforcement. According to the federal indictment, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “infiltration” of White supremacist organizations took a highly controversial turn in 2010 when two Ku Klux Klan members, designated in court documents as “F-31” and “F-32,” approached the nonprofit seeking an exit strategy from the hate group out of fear for their personal safety.
However, rather than facilitating their departure or assisting them in transitioning away from extremism, prosecutors say that the SPLC actively incentivized the men to maintain their positions inside the Klan. To accomplish this, the organization established a shell corporation known as Rare Books Warehouse, which was used to funnel covert monthly stipends of $1,200 plus additional expense reimbursements to the two informants, ensuring their continued participation in the hate group’s operations.
The DOJ argues that this funding structure ultimately cross-subsidized illicit extremist activities, as a portion of the SPLC-provided funds was reportedly utilized by the informants to recruit new members into the Klan and finance the manufacturing of the group’s signature white robes.
While the SPLC’s practice of employing undercover field sources to monitor hate groups dates back to the 1980s, federal prosecutors argue that the modern operation crossed legal boundaries by intentionally deceiving the public. The indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2023, the nonprofit systematically used fictitious front companies to conceal a total of $4.1 million in secret payments to its network of informants, effectively hiding the controversial operational expenses from its donor base.
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