War against 'race-baiting' SPLC opens new front in Alabama

The Southern Poverty Law Center was federally indicted on April 21 for allegedly funneling millions of dollars to the very racist and extremist groups it claimed to be fighting, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, the American Front, United Klans of America, and the National Socialist Party of America.

The Alabama-headquartered smear- and fearmongering racket — charged with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering — pleaded not guilty on Thursday to all counts.

'We have always suspected that they were monetizing hate.'

"The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong," stated SPLC interim president and CEO Bryan Fair. "They are based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law. Our informant program was successful in accomplishing its purposes: Threats and attacks were prevented, criminal activity was stopped, and information was gathered to dismantle the efforts of hate and extremist groups."

Now thanks to the state of Alabama, SPLC smear merchants will have to mount a defense on more than one front.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Monday that his office has launched a civil investigation into the SPLC, alleging deceptive fundraising practices under Alabama's consumer protection statutes.

The probe is looking specifically at whether the SPLC's alleged activities referenced in the federal indictment violated Alabama's Deceptive Trade Practices Act or other state laws concerning charitable organizations.

RELATED: Klansman allegedly on SPLC payroll was 'true believer' white supremacist, not reformed infiltrator

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Marshall's office has subpoenaed SPLC documents disclosing to Alabama donors or prospective donors the organization's use of "informants"; identifying the annual donations received from donors in Alabama and beyond; showing annual disbursements of donated funds to "informants"; reflecting the percentage of the SPLC's annual budget blown on "informant"-related costs; and showing payments to groups or individuals appearing in the SPLC's extremist files or on its hate map.

The SPLC, which has been ordered to produce these documents by June 1, confirmed to WSFA-TV that the organization's leaders "have received notice of a subpoena and are currently reviewing."

"My office has been fighting the SPLC for years — whether fighting them to protect minors from transgender medical procedures, fighting them to keep bad guys behind bars, or fighting them to preserve Alabama’s Republican congressional districts," Marshall said in a statement.

"We have always suspected that they were monetizing hate and trading on race-baiting; it was just a matter of proving it," continued Marshall. "Thanks to the U.S. Justice Department’s action to deal with the SPLC, the state’s efforts have now received a shot in the arm. We look forward to learning more about the inner workings of an organization that we have long believed was rotten but, until recently, has been impervious."

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