DOJ Says SPLC Paid KKK Members To Stay
A new superseding Justice Department indictment is widening the case against the Southern Poverty Law Center. And the latest filing adds a stark claim: the group allegedly used donor money to pay Ku Klux Klan members who wanted out, then encouraged them to remain in the movement anyway.
According to the DOJ, the SPLC had previously been accused in April of taking part in a covert informant scheme tied to extremist groups. The new filing expands on those allegations and says the organization made fraudulent payments to members of the KKK and other radical groups.
The indictment says two Klan members, identified as F-31 and F-32, contacted the SPLC after seeing media coverage about the group helping someone leave an extremist organization. The filings say they asked for help getting out because they feared for their safety and wanted to leave the movement.
But instead of helping them walk away, the DOJ alleges an SPLC employee pushed them to stay. The filing says the employee offered a $1,200 monthly salary plus expense reimbursements. After that, the two allegedly stayed with the Klan while being financially supported by the SPLC.
One of the sharper claims in the indictment is that the SPLC allegedly gave false paperwork to a bank, describing F-32 as a Rare Books employee. The DOJ says that was a “materially false representation” that helped F-32 get a pay card. The filing also says SPLC staff told the two men to tell anyone asking about the money that “they worked for Rare Books and that their job was to help college students research and write essays.”
“Neither F-31 nor F-32 ever researched or wrote any essays for any students, college or otherwise,” the indictment reads.
The DOJ also says the arrangement did not keep the men safe. Instead, it claims the SPLC’s backing placed them in more dangerous situations and helped fund trips to extremist rallies in multiple states. The indictment further alleges that one of the men climbed into a leadership role inside the group and used donor money to recruit new members.
The filing goes even further, saying SPLC money was used to buy material for Ku Klux Klan garments and to cover expenses tied to cross-burning events, including wood and fuel.
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The DOJ says a similar pattern showed up in the case of another man, identified as F-30. According to the filing, he had led the National Socialist Party of America, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and led a faction of the Aryan Nations. The government alleges he asked the SPLC for help leaving the white nationalist movement, but instead was paid more than $70,000 in donor funds from 2010 through 2016 to stay involved.
The indictment says that money was used for travel to extremist rallies, hosting those events, recruiting new members, and even donating to leaders of other extremist groups.
The SPLC has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to CBS News. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division, where the allegations will now have to be tested in court.