Southern Poverty Law Center says it faces DOJ probe over paid informants

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In Brief:

• Southern Poverty Law Center says it is under DOJ investigation with possible criminal charges.
• Probe reportedly focuses on SPLC’s past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.
• Investigation comes amid broader scrutiny of organizations viewed as political opponents.
• SPLC defends actions as necessary for safety following threats and past violence.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a storied organization founded to promote racial justice in the South, said it is facing a Justice Department investigation including possible criminal charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.

The civil rights organization revealed the probe in a video message from its CEO, Bryan Fair, who said prosecutors appeared to be preparing legal action against some of its employees.

“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” Fair said, adding later, “We will not be intimidated into silence or contrition.”

A spokesperson for the organization declined to comment on what led it to conclude it was being investigated. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While the catalyst for the investigation is unclear, such a probe follows conservative-driven congressional inquiries into the SPLC and demands that the Trump administration investigate funding for groups supporting the left.

More broadly, the department, under President Donald Trump, has launched probes of several people and organizations viewed as politically unfriendly to the president. That has included groups such as ActBlue, the Democrats’ main fundraising platform, as well as outspoken critics from his first administration and law firms that represented Trump’s political adversaries.

A person familiar with the SPLC investigation said it is being led by federal prosecutors in the Montgomery-based Middle District of Alabama. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the ongoing investigation.

The SPLC, a 55-year-old nonprofit, was founded in Montgomery with the goal of ensuring that the civil rights law passed by Congress and enshrined by the courts would become a reality on the ground. It is known for its efforts to monitor and take legal action against white-supremacist groups.

The organization in recent years has become a frequent target for Trump and his allies in Congress, who accuse it of unfairly labeling right-leaning groups as violent extremist organizations. That line of criticism reached its peak following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year. The SPLC had identified the organization he led, Turning Point USA, as an epitome of the “hard right” in a 2024 report on hate and extremist groups

FBI Director Kash Patel announced in October that the bureau was severing ties with the organization, which had long worked with agents to identify and provide tips on domestic extremist groups.

In his statement Tuesday, Fair said the SPLC began paying informants to infiltrate those organizations as a means to protect its staff. In 1983, the organization’s headquarters was firebombed, and it has received multiple credible threats in the years since, he said.

“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “Today, the federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our most vulnerable people and any organization like ours that tries to stand in the breach.”