The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit based out of Montgomery, was indicted last week on federal fraud charges. The U.S. Department of Justice is alleging that the nonprofit, which focuses on civil rights and has pursued litigation against white supremacist extremist groups, defrauded donors by secretly paying members of the Ku Klux Klan and other extremist groups for insider information.

The indictment claims the SPLC used more than $3 million to pay informants through a now-defunct program to gain insider information. Prosecutors also claim that some of this money was used by extremist groups to carry out crimes, but the court filings did not point out any examples of when this occurred.

The SPLC is now facing charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case, which was brought in the federal District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. The indictment was made shortly after the SPLC announced that it was the subject of a criminal investigation. 

Prosecutors allege that the SPLC set up bank accounts for fake businesses, under names such as “Rare Books Warehouse,” as a way to funnel money to informants within extremist groups as part of a secret program that began in the 1980s. The indictment says that one informant, who was affiliated with the neo-Nazi group National Alliance, was paid more than $1 million between 2014 and 2023. Prosecutors say that the details of this informant program were never disclosed to donors, violating nonprofit transparency laws.

“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press conference about the indictment.

The SPLC, meanwhile, maintains that it kept the program quiet for the safety of its informants. They say the program was meant to monitor threats of violence, and that information was often shared with local and federal law enforcement.

“The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the Civil Rights Movement becomes a reality for all,” SPLC interim CEO and President Bryan Fair said in a statement.

The SPLC’s relationship with the federal government has been strained under the Trump administration. Last year, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the agency would be severing its longstanding ties with the nonprofit over its publication of a “hate map” that documents the existence of hate groups in the country. Patel called the project a “partisan smear machine.”

The organization also came under fire from Republican lawmakers last year after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025. Turning Point USA, the group led by Kirk, had been included in the SPLC report, “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024.”  

Several other civil rights groups have spoken out against the charges against the SPLC.

“This administration’s continued weaponization of the Justice Department to target organizations speaking out against its agenda is anti-American behavior harkening back to the McCarthy era,” said American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony D. Romero in a statement, saying the ACLU would stand in solidarity with the SPLC.

Alabama top stories in brief

State reaches $12.2 million settlement in Roblox lawsuit

• The Alabama Attorney General’s office announced last week that it has reached a $12.2 million settlement with the online gaming platform Roblox. 
• This settlement resolves several lawsuits from parents in the state who claim the company failed to implement security measures that would prevent adults from using the online game to groom children. 
• “Platforms that host child consumers must do their part to give parents a fighting chance to shield their children from harm,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement about the settlement agreement.
• The money from these settlements will go into a fund providing additional funds to school resource officers across the state through the Alabama Safe Schools Initiative. 

New report shows 815,000 Alabamians disenfranchised from voting

• A new report, produced by voting rights group Stand Up Mobile in collaboration with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, shows that roughly 815,000 Alabamians — or 21% of the state’s voting population — fail to register to vote or are listed as inactive voters.
• The report links these gaps in the state’s electorate to structural barriers. 
• According to the report, the most common reason Alabamians cite for not voting is illness or disability, making it harder to vote. 26.3% of non-voters in the state listed this as their reason for not voting — more than double the 12.9% national average.
• Racial disparity also persists in voting statewide, with the report finding 14.9% of Black voters are considered inactive — meaning they have not voted in four years — versus 12.7% of white voters. 
• The report also found that nearly three-quarters of general election races go uncontested in the state — a phenomenon they link to gerrymandered districts. 

APT surveying state on attitudes towards PBS

• The Alabama Educational Television Commission — which governs Alabama Public Television — has voted to conduct a statewide survey to gauge public attitudes towards Public Broadcasting Service programming.
• While the commission also voted last week to continue its affiliation with PBS indefinitely, the survey comes in response to a letter from Gov. Kay Ivey last November suggesting the commission make plans to gauge Alabamians’ opinions on PBS and its programming.
• The survey will be carried out by a national survey research and strategic services company, McLaughlin and Associates. The service will survey 600 people. This process will cost $47,500. 
• Members of AETC called into question using McLaughlin and Associates as their surveying service, raising concerns that the company’s political leanings could affect the survey’s results. The company has serviced a number of Republican political candidates, including President Donald Trump.

First medical cannabis in state expected to hit dispensaries in May

• The first batch of legal medical cannabis products in the state are expected to be available for purchase in early May — nearly five years after state lawmakers approved a medical cannabis program. 
• Antoine Mordican, CEO of Native Black Cultivation — an approved cannabis grower in the state, told Alabama Reflector last week that they had sent a harvest of cannabis flour to Homestead Health, a processor, on April 10.
• From there, Homestead Health will process the cannabis flour into legal products for sale at dispensaries with licenses from the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission. Under state law, they may produce tablets, tinctures, patches, oils and gummies — though gummies can only be peach flavored. Smokable products are prohibited.
• According to Homestead Health CEO Tyler Robinson, the company hopes to have the product to dispensaries between May 4-11. 
• There are currently three licensed dispensary companies in Alabama. These include:
  • CCS of Alabama LLC, with locations in Montgomery, Bessemer and Talladega
  • GP6 Wellness LLC, with locations in Birmingham, Athens and Attalla
  • RJK Holdings LLC, with locations in Oxford, Daphne and Mobile
  • A fourth company, Yellowhammer Medical Dispensary LLC, is still pending license approval, but has locations in Birmingham, Owens Cross Roads and Demopolis

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