SPLC charged with defrauding donors over paid extremism informant program | CNN Politics

The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday for allegedly using funds to secretly pay leaders of violent extremist groups to act as confidential informants without telling donors, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. The indictment, which was handed up by a federal grand jury in Alabama, charged the civil rights group with nearly a dozen counts including bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case was announced soon after SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair revealed the organization was under investigation for its now defunct program that used paid confidential informants to penetrate White supremacist and other organizations to “infiltrate” their ranks, learn about their activities and report their insight to law enforcement. Fair denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the SPLC and said that they will “vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work.” Founded in 1971, the SPLC is best known for its work investigating and tracking violent extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. In recent years, however, its faced accusations from Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump who say it is unfairly labelling conservativ