DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud over secret funding of extremist groups

That the SPLC was a grift has been obvious for decades.   Scaring liberals built the Poverty Palace and made the founder an extremely wealthy man. But I thought it was just your typical "Lincoln Project" type grift. I had no idea they were this deep in the weeds, and this desperate to keep ratcheting the fear up.

But when you industry depends on keeping half the country convinced they are as oppressed as Jews were living in Nazi Germany, I guess they felt that at some point they needed something tangential to point to and resorted to manufacturing threats to keep the illusion alive. It's sad they took advantage of so many mentally ill people like that. 

The SPLC coordinated Charlottesville..

Amazing.  

Joe Biden's supposed reason for running for President...

The SPLC coordinated Charlottesville..

LOL.  I dont think the white supremacists who organized it would appreciate you saying that. 

white supremacists who organized it would appreciate you saying that. 

The "white supremacists" were being paid by the SPLC. 

Create the problem to profit off the problem. 

There weren't enough actual hate groups and crimes to go around so the SPLC had to subsidize them so they could keep fundraising off them.  Invest 3 million and reap  100 million a year from frightened grandmas. Solid business model. 

The SPLC was almost certainly the largest funder of "hate groups" in the US. 

“The SPLC was not dismantling the groups,” said Blanche

That’s an odd accusation. When did the SPLC become duty-bound to dismantle any group?

the focus of the probe appeared to be on the group’s prior use of paid, confidential informants “to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

Interesting. The FBI does this, too. They put people undercover in criminal organizations - sometimes for years - to investigate and document criminal activity. And it costs quite a bit of money. But no one is deliberately obtuse enough to accuse them of supporting or causing crime.

the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club and the American Front

.

“It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

So, the argument here, that we are being asked to accept, is that the Klan and Nazis…THE KLAN!…and NAZIs!…is not a bunch of irredeemably racist, violent assholes all on their own. It was the SPLC that tricked them into it.

Watching the ego defense mechanism kick in real time is fun to see.  People often get more mad at being told the truth than at  the people who told the lies they fell for. There are people out there who think Jesse Smollett was attacked by MAGA too. 

You really are going to be embarrassed by the "SPLC is the same as the FBI"  ploy  once you calm down. 

You really are going to be embarrassed

That's just silly coming from anyone supporting this dumpster fire of an administration. Talk about a reason to be embarrassed. There isn't a single person with more than a double-digit IQ that voted for Trump that isn't either a masochistic freak loving the destruction of our country or is embarrassed by the bumbling clown they voted for.

A grade A deflection  there. Textbook.

Imagine it was someone other than President  Donald Trump . Suppose a different leader were posting deranged rants in the small hours, insulting the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion  Catholics , threatening entire civilizations with annihilation, and comparing himself to God. What would be the reaction? We all know the answer. Both parties would be rushing to bundle him out of office before he did irreversible harm to the republic. Yet, as we all also know, different rules apply to Trump.  Democrats , having had their fingers burned by two failed impeachment attempts, are reluctant to try again, for they know that there is no surer way to boost his support.  Republicans , who privately despair at the electoral damage he is doing, let alone the constitutional damage, are paralyzed by fear of upsetting their primary voters.

Not only am I totally calm already, but you didn't actually respond to anything I wrote. What a waste.

never understood why the left was so preoccupied with far right marchers in Charlottesville who chanted “Jews will not replace us” when they had no problems with Palestine marchers chanting “Khaybar Khaybar, ya Yahud.”

The left’s obsession with Charlottesville makes more sense now that I know how much they paid for it.

x

The left’s obsession with Charlottesville makes more sense now that I know how much they paid for it.

Is there some sort of competition for the stupidest comments today? If so, that comment is definitely a contender.

I see a comparison between Charlottesville and Jan 6 at the capitol here - both times now the right has tried to place the blame on someone else other than their own. 

both times now the right has tried to place the blame on someone else other than their own. 

Of course they did because they're dishonest liars just like the convicted felon they voted for.

"You are his children, and you want to do what your father wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has never stood for the truth, because there’s no truth in him. Whenever that liar speaks, he speaks according to his own nature, because he’s a liar and the father of liars." - John 8:44

He is a liar and they are his devoted children.

I know how much they paid for it

Do you know? How much exactly? How did this money fund the event? Are you alleging that it wouldn't have happened without the money? If you're so certain you have some kind of smoking gun, then give us the details.

I predict that this case will fall apart once the DOJ has to produce any real evidence.

case will fall apart once the DOJ has to produce any real evidence.

I believe the DOJ has evidence otherwise it would be difficult to obtain any indictments.  The interesting thing for SPLC is what information they have from their so-called informants, what was turned over to the police or FBI.  Did any of these informants commit crimes, did the SPLC report these crimes to the police and FBI. Non-profit groups don't have the same status as a law enforcement agency for paying people doing illegal things.    

You can indict a ham sandwich.

You can indict a ham sandwich.

Most lawyers can, but the current crop of idiots at the DoJ have been having issues doing that lately.

Why was the Southern Poverty Law Center indicted on federal fraud charges? | Trump administration | The Guardian

What’s the indictment about?

The indictment says the center told donors the money would be used to help dismantle violent extremist groups, but did not disclose that some of the funds would actually be used to pay members of those groups. Some legal experts say it’s an unusual legal approach.

“That’s a new way of going after a charity – I’m somewhat surprised,” said Phil Hackney, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Typically, when a non-profit group is charged with fraud, it’s because someone is accused of pilfering donated funds to line their own pockets, Hackney said.

But in this case, the government is targeting the method and intent in which a nonprofit used its money, he said.

The government is looking at the informant payments “as an intent to further hate – and I doubt Southern Poverty Law Center had that intent”, Hackney said.

The law has never required non-profit groups to hand donors a line-item receipt for every sensitive operation, said Todd Spodek, a federal criminal defense attorney with Spodek Law Group PC in Manhattan.

“From a defense perspective, this isn’t a fraud case. It is a political attack on standard investigative tradecraft,” said Spodek. “We are talking about high stakes intelligence work where discretion isn’t a form of deception, it is a matter of survival.”

In order to win a conviction, the government will have to prove the center engaged in a deliberate scheme to lie, Spodek said.

“They simply cannot. Silence of tactical details is not a crime, and you don’t get to call it fraud just because the government dislikes the methods used to get results,” he said. He later continued: “The prosecution is trying to turn operational discretion into a felony, which is a massive overreach.”

• FBI Director Kash Patel in October said the FBI would sever ties with the SPLC, which he called a “partisan smear machine

Sever ties? Isn't that interesting. The FBI has ties to the SPLC. What ties? You might ask.

The fact is that the SPLC - and several other organizations concerned with civil rights - investigate these hate groups and then turn over information on what they learn to law enforcement. In other words, SPLC has been helping the FBI bust Nazis. That should be a thing we all stand up and cheer for, but drunk-ass Kash Patel and MAGA sycophants will instead blindly support that the FBI is no longer interested in tracking down actual terrorists. Maybe because they share the same ideology.

turn over information on what they learn to law enforcement. In other words, SPLC has been helping the FBI bust Nazis.

Give us any example of information they have turned over to anybody.

You don’t even need to ask me. Their critics admit it. 

The FBI—Finally—Kicks the SPLC to the Curb

Since 2007, the FBI used the SPLC “Hate Map” and other data to inform its analysis of domestic extremism and hate crimes. That analysis, in turn, could then be used for purposes of training and intelligence gathering.

Unless you have a different explanation for what it means when the FBI has “ties” to the SPLC?

Unless you have a different explanation

I believe the indictment explains that, SPLC wasn't paying for information it was financing the hate groups. 

I believe the indictment explains that, SPLC wasn't paying for information it was financing the hate groups. 

No. The indictment claims it hid the names of paid informants and the shell companies used to pay them from the FBI when sharing information gathered with them. 

The charges are what they are. That will all get sorted eventually. My point was the FBI had a productive, cooperative relationship with the SPLC to go after dangerous hate groups for several years.

claims it hid the names of paid informants

Gee thanks....Between at least 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid their F's in a clandestine manner. Doing so hid the fact that SPLC received donation money under the auspices that the funds would be used to "dismantle" violent extremist groups, this donation money was instead, being used, in part to pay leaders and others within these same violent extremist groups.  That money was then used for the benefit of the individuals as well as the violent extremist groups.

www.justice.gov/opa/media/1437146/dl

www.justice.gov...

Sorry, but I'm not going to believe a word of what the current Admin has to say on anything without verification. If they told me it was raining I'd look out the window before grabbing my umbrella. 

Between at least 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid their F's in a clandestine manner. Doing so hid the fact that SPLC received donation money under the auspices that the funds would be used to "dismantle" violent extremist groups...

Which is what groups do with LE Agencies all the time.

...this donation money was instead, being used, in part to pay leaders and others within these same violent extremist groups.  That money was then used for the benefit of the individuals as well as the violent extremist groups.

I think I'll wait for facts to come out in trial. I'm not saying they are right, or wrong. I'm saying this Admin lies too often to trust it's word and the populist right has had a target on SPLC for decades. 

Sorry, but I'm not going to believe a word of what the current Admin has to say on anything without verification.

This is just another case that is likely going to get thrown out of court just like most of the other cases brought by this pathetic partisan DOJ under Trump. Just a bunch of fucking losers sucking up to their dumb fuck bigoted boss, but the SPLC will have the last laugh and hopefully sues the fuck out of the government and then continues its mission exposing fucking scum bag white supremacists and shit eating useless rightwing domestic terrorist incel militia groups.

I am here specifically to award you with a prize. But first, some analysis...

You have said throughout this seed the following:

That the SPLC was a grift has been obvious for decades. Scaring liberals built the Poverty Palace and made the founder an extremely wealthy man. But I thought it was just your typical "Lincoln Project" type grift. I had no idea they were this deep in the weeds, and this desperate to keep ratcheting the fear up.

But when you industry depends on keeping half the country convinced they are as oppressed as Jews were living in Nazi Germany, I guess they felt that at some point they needed something tangential to point to and resorted to manufacturing threats to keep the illusion alive. It's sad they took advantage of so many mentally ill people like that.

There weren't enough actual hate groups and crimes to go around so the SPLC had to subsidize them so they could keep fundraising off them. Invest 3 million and reap 100 million a year from frightened grandmas. Solid business model. The SPLC was almost certainly the largest funder of "hate groups" in the US.

never understood why the left was so preoccupied with far right marchers in Charlottesville who chanted “Jews will not replace us” when they had no problems with Palestine marchers chanting “Khaybar Khaybar, ya Yahud.” The left’s obsession with Charlottesville makes more sense now that I know how much they paid for it.

You have posted more, but that is basically your interpretation of the situation. Yes? Those are your comments, so it follows that those comments reflect your interpretation or opinion of the situation. So, the following (written by my understudy and editorial/research assistant) is a formalized statement of your argument :

Sean’s position is that the Southern Poverty Law Center operates as a profit-driven enterprise that depends on exaggerating or sustaining the perception of extremist threats for fundraising purposes. He asserts that this incentive structure led the organization not only to overstate the prevalence of hate groups but to actively support or finance individuals within those groups, effectively subsidizing them. From this, he infers that SPLC played a causal or coordinating role in events such as the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and that broader public and political reactions to such events were amplified or shaped by this dynamic. In his view, these actions constitute a deliberate system in which fear is cultivated and leveraged for financial gain, making SPLC a central actor in both the existence and perception of extremist activity in the United States.

If that is an accurate summary of your position, then the issue is not disagreement with your conclusion, but the method used to reach it. 

Based on this position, I am entitled and encouraged to give you the first " NT Prince of Doublespeak " award. Of course, the entities doing the entitling and encouraging are Me, Myself, and I, underwritten by the law firm Doowy, Cheetum, and Howe. The reasoning behind this award is not as fanciful as the award itself or it's underwriters. To wit (from my conversations with my editorial assistant):

Doublespeak is language that deliberately shifts or obscures meaning while sounding clear and authoritative. It works by substituting terms, blurring distinctions, or compressing steps in an argument so that a conclusion appears to follow naturally when, in fact, key assumptions were never proven. The reason one watches for doublespeak is because it hides the gap between evidence and conclusion . When words are quietly redefined or when allegations are spoken of as facts, the listener is nudged toward accepting claims that have not actually been demonstrated. Spotting doublespeak forces the argument back into the open, where definitions, evidence, and logic can be examined instead of assumed.

Referring to the first linked comment:

This opens with a fully formed conclusion presented as if it were established fact . No evidence is offered, but motive, intent, and outcome are all asserted in absolute terms. The doublespeak begins with the quiet shift from criticism (which could be argued) to certainty (which is simply declared) . Terms like “manufacturing threats” and “taking advantage” are introduced without demonstration, yet treated as explanatory facts. The language carries the weight of proof without supplying any. That is the first move: assertion framed as settled reality .

In the second:

Here the doublespeak becomes explicit. The reporting concerns allegations that the Southern Poverty Law Center paid informants embedded in extremist groups . Sean substitutes that with “subsidize hate groups,” which is not a neutral restatement but a change in meaning . Informant payments (an investigative method) are recast as financial support (an endorsement or sustaining act). That substitution then becomes the foundation for escalation: from a specific allegation to a systemic claim that SPLC needed to create or sustain hate groups for profit. The final leap, calling it the “largest funder,” is an extraordinary claim with no evidence at all . The entire chain depends on that initial word swap, which is never justified but treated as obvious.

And the third:

This is the final move: applying the narrative to events it never proved. The Charlottesville Unite the Right rally is recast as something SPLC influenced or funded, not through evidence, but through repetition of earlier claims. The unsupported premise is now treated as a given, and the event is made to fit it. No causal link is shown because none was established. This is the endpoint of doublespeak: speculation is laundered into explanation, and the conclusion is made to appear inevitable. That is, by definition, doublespeak.

A risky case

Legal experts told CNN the case is likely to face a number of major hurdles given that the theory under which it’s premised runs counter to the reality of the SPLC’s stated objectives over the years.

Because the organization has long made public its mission of dismantling extremist groups, it’s “preposterous” for the government to argue that any donor who’s given money to SPLC didn’t know what those funds were being used for and didn’t support their money being used to pay informants, said retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner.

“Everyone understood the way they function and why they function and how that was part of the mission,” Gertner said. “So it is a curious indictment.”

Gertner predicted that should the case get to trial, prosecutors may struggle to find witnesses to testify against the SPLC.

“I think it’s going to fall apart because I think there will be no witnesses to support what they’re saying,” she said, adding that the case could also suffer setbacks before trial if the group can convince the judge overseeing it that the organization is being unfairly prosecuted.

Such requests to dismiss a case based on claims of a selective or vindictive prosecution are rarely granted, but judges have appeared more receptive to them since Trump returned to the White House last year. Gertner said SPLC may point to the administration’s antagonization of the group as evidence that it’s being singled out for criminal punishment.

Abbe Smith, a professor at Georgetown Law who specializes in criminal matters, also said that SPLC may try to get the charges tossed out based on an argument that the case runs up against the group’s First Amendment rights.

“The activities that Southern Poverty Law Center are engaging in are basically speech and association,” she said.

The case, which was brought in Montgomery, Alabama, is being overseen by US District Judge Emily Marks, who was appointed to the bench by Trump. Initial proceedings have not yet been scheduled.

What to know about the Trump Justice Department’s case against the Southern Poverty Law Center

but this will keep Epstein and Iran off the news for about 36 hours, lol.