The Southern Poverty Law Center, the self-appointed watchdog of American "hate" has been hit with a bombshell 11-count federal indictment for allegedly funding the very extremism it claims to fight.
In a move that has sent shockwaves through Washington, the Department of Justice accused the group of funneling a staggering $3 million in donor cash to high-ranking leaders of the KKK and neo-Nazi fundraisers.
According to a sensational indictment unsealed in Montgomery, Alabama, the group allegedly operated a shadowy "informant" network that didn't just monitor hate, but actively "ginned it up."
Prosecutors claim the SPLC used cloak-and-dagger shell companies with names like "Fox Photography" and "Rare Books Warehouse" to hide payments to extremist "field sources."
In one truly disturbing allegation, a source on the SPLC payroll reportedly helped coordinate travel for white supremacists at the infamous 2017 Charlottesville rally.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel didn't hold back during a Tuesday press conference, claiming the SPLC was "manufacturing" bigotry to keep their own fundraising machines humming.
SPLC CEO Bryan Fair has hit back, branding the prosecution a "political hit job" by the Trump administration, but the DOJ is charging ahead with counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Is the world’s most famous anti-hate group actually the biggest financier of the radical right?