DOJ Alleges SPLC Paid Ku Klux Klan Members To Remain In Hate Groups And Reimbursed Cross-Burning Expenses

According to a New York Post report, the Southern Poverty Law Center, long known for tracking and exposing extremist organizations, is facing explosive new allegations from federal prosecutors who claim the organization used donor money to pay white nationalists and Ku Klux Klan members to remain active in the very groups it publicly condemned.

In a superseding indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, the Justice Department expanded on criminal charges first brought in April against the SPLC, including allegations of wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to prosecutors, some of the organization’s confidential sources were not merely compensated for information. Instead, they were allegedly paid to remain embedded within extremist organizations after expressing a desire to leave.

The indictment describes two Klan members, identified only as F-31 and F-32, who allegedly approached the SPLC in 2010 fearing for their safety and seeking a path out of the organization.

Rather than helping them leave, prosecutors claim the SPLC arranged for the pair to receive $1,200 per month, plus expenses, through a shell corporation known as Rare Books Warehouse.

Federal prosecutors allege the payments continued for years and helped keep the pair active inside the Ku Klux Klan.

According to the indictment, some of the money allegedly funded activities directly connected to Klan operations, including recruiting new members and producing the group’s signature white robes.

The most shocking allegation involves reimbursements tied to cross-burning events.

Court documents allege the SPLC reimbursed expenses “incurred for cross-burning events, to include the wood and fuel used.”

Prosecutors contend the organization concealed the nature of the payments from donors while continuing to raise money under its public mission of exposing hate groups and fighting discrimination.

The superseding indictment adds new details to a case that has already sent shockwaves through the civil-rights and nonprofit communities.

The SPLC has denied wrongdoing and is expected to vigorously challenge the allegations in court.

Federal prosecutors must still prove their claims, and the charges remain allegations until tested before a jury.

Still, if the government’s allegations are substantiated, the case could raise serious questions about how one of America’s most prominent anti-hate organizations conducted its intelligence-gathering operations and whether donor funds were used in ways supporters never imagined.

The case is expected to move forward in federal court in Alabama in the coming months.

Far-left Southern Poverty Law Center reimbursed Klan members for cross-burnings: feds https://t.co/UoCfmZPjs1 pic.twitter.com/9b8ID0x1hG

— New York Post (@nypost) June 3, 2026