Southern Poverty Law Center indicted for paying to stage 'hate crimes,' including deadly Charlottesville riot

Federal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Department of Justice unveiled a bombshell indictment Tuesday evening that accused the notorious Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of funneling millions of dollars to white supremacist and other extremist groups in order to foment racial animus throughout the country. Justice Department officials say one of the biggest examples of funding by the SPLC resulted in the deadly 2017 Charlottesville riot. 

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel announced the 11-count indictment at a press conference on Tuesday evening, alleging that the SPLC paid Ku Klux Klan leaders and members of other hate groups to manufacture hate crimes in the U.S.

"The SPLC was not dismantling these groups," Blanche said. "It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.” The SPLC has long billed itself as a civil rights advocacy group that exposes hate groups, but it has also faced criticism for its strong-arm tactics that seem to only target conservatives. 

The SPLC responded to the indictment saying that the allegations are false and that the group "will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work." The SPLC faces a raft of charges including wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case was filed in Alabama, where the SPLC has been based since it's founding in 1971.

One of the most shocking accusations against the SPLC is its alleged involvement in the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, which turned violent when one of the protesters drove a car into a crowd and killed a 32-year-old woman. The event also turned out to be the basis of the "Very Fine People" hoax, in which the mainstream media intentionally mischaracterized President Trump's remarks on the violent turn of events, making it seem like he was praising the extremists when he was actually criticizing them.

Dave Rubin was one of the first and only people to publicly call out the hoax, which was repeated by the likes of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and many others. 

According to the 14-page indictment, the SPLC paid what the Justice Department described as a "field source who was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 'Unite the Right' event in Charlottesville, Virginia. That field source made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees. In order to covertly pay its field sources, the SPLC opened bank accounts connected to a series of fictitious entities. The covert nature of the accounts allowed the SPLC to disguise the true nature, source, ownership, and control of the fraudulently obtained donated money the SPLC paid the field sources. In order to keep the scheme going, the SPLC made a series of false statements related to the operation of the accounts."

All told, that individual was paid $270,000 to organize an event that ended with dozens of Americans injured, one dead and that served as the basis for a hoax promoted by the left for nearly a decade after. In her lone debate against Donald Trump in 2024, Kamala Harris actually made the false accusation to his face, a moment the mainstream media all but overlooked. Some to this day still promote the "Very Fine People" hoax. 

The Justice Department says the SPLC "secretly funneled more than $3 million" to extremists for similar types of tactics. "The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X, adding, "this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved."

It's also worth pointing out that the incendiary FBI memo sent in 2023, which warned that everyday Catholic Americans should be monitored as potential domestic terrorists was partially based on claims made by the SPCL.

Moreover, the investigation into the SPLC was started during the Biden administration, but mysteriously shut down during Biden's lone term, Blanche said in an appearance on Fox News. Read the full 11-count indictment here, and below watch a clip of Dave reacting to the news and discussing his own experiences with the SPLC over the years.