The Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly paid a source more than $270,000 to make racist social media posts under the organization’s direction while simultaneously branding conservative groups as hate organizations, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.
The SPLC faces wire fraud and conspiracy charges after a federal grand jury indicted the organization last month. Prosecutors allege the group used millions in donor funds to bankroll a “covert network of individuals” embedded in violent extremist groups including the KKK.
The unsealed indictment reveals the SPLC’s paid field source “was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC.”
“That field source made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees.”
The source received payments from 2015 through 2023 — the same period the SPLC positioned itself as the leading arbiter of what constitutes “hate” and “extremism” in America.
During those years, the organization successfully pressured corporations and tech platforms to blacklist Christian and conservative groups. In 2020, Republican House Judiciary members confronted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos over the company’s reliance on SPLC designations to exclude conservative organizations from its AmazonSmile charity program.
“Amazon’s reliance on the SPLC as a barometer to determine the eligibility of charitable organizations on AmazonSmile serves to discriminate against conservative views,” the lawmakers wrote.
The SPLC designated Alliance Defending Freedom — which defends women’s sports from biological males and represents pro-life pregnancy centers — as a “hate group.” The organization also labeled Turning Point USA as advancing “white Christian supremacy” in a May 2025 report.
The SPLC even targeted The Federalist under its “Hatewatch” label, calling this outlet “rabidly partisan” for publishing a transcript of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ speech at an Alliance Defending Freedom event.
If proven, the allegations raise questions about how the SPLC could simultaneously stigmatize conservative groups while allegedly funding the racist conduct it publicly condemned.
The charges remain allegations. The case has not been proven in court.
