Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks throughout a press convention with FBI Director Kash Patel subsequent to him, on the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on April 21, 2026.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
The Department of Justice on Tuesday introduced a bombshell 11-count indictment accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of secretly funding right-wing extremist teams that it claimed to be battling.
“The SPLC was not dismantling the groups,” mentioned Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press convention. “It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”
The indictment was returned Tuesday by a grand jury in U.S. District Court within the Middle District of Alabama, Blanche mentioned. The SPLC, which is a non-profit civil rights group, is charged with six counts of wire fraud, 4 counts of financial institution fraud, and one rely of cash laundering, he mentioned.
The SPLC earlier Tuesday in a press release mentioned it was the topic of a felony probe by the DOJ.
“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” CEO Bryan Fair mentioned in a press release reported by The Associated Press.
This is breaking information. Please refresh for updates.
