On April 21, 2026, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

Prosecutors allege that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donor funds to individuals affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, the National Alliance, and other extremist groups, the same groups it was publicly raising money to dismantle.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the SPLC was "manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose." The indictment also includes two federal forfeiture actions to recover alleged proceeds of the fraud. The SPLC has denied the allegations and vowed to fight them in court.

The charges have forced a question that critics have raised for decades: where does the SPLC's money actually come from?