The Department of Justice reviewed criminal allegations against the Southern Poverty Law Center that went far beyond the financial charges it currently faces, court documents show.

Investigators were briefed in December 2025 about claims that the nonprofit group committed extortion, blackmail, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and fraudulent tactics against conservative organizations, according to an “Intelligence Briefing” unveiled in court on Monday. The FBI detailed some of those allegations in an October 2025 document as it began its investigation that led to indictments against the SPLC and former top employee Heidi Beirich.

The indictments filed since April accuse the organization and Beirich of wire fraud, false bank statements, money laundering, and conspiracy offenses. The charges center on the charity’s staff allegedly using paid informants within racist groups to enable the very extremist movements that donors tasked them with stopping.

But initially, federal agents also assessed whether the influential watchdog committed crimes via its “Hate Map” targeting mainstream conservatives, failing to report payments to informants with the IRS, or other alleged schemes.

A December 2025 “Intelligence Briefing” to law enforcement accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of a wide variety of federal crimes, court records show. (Image credit: Department of Justice)

Lead prosecutor Kevin Davidson did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner. Beirich’s lawyers revealed the new files in court to support their argument that her prosecution is politically motivated and unconstitutional. Beirich and the SPLC as an entity have pleaded not guilty to their charges.

How the case blossomed

Critics have long attacked the SPLC for departing from its founding mission of focusing on widely-scorned racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The FBI’s October 2025 report said the SPLC inflating its “Hate Map” with conservative groups to solicit more donations could constitute a “scheme to defraud.”

“The hate map capitalizes on fears, and the SPLC creates a sense of urgency to give based in part [on] fraudulent representations as outlined herein,” the document said. “The SPLC uses the hate map as a scheme to defraud by making false representations which are transmitted in interstate commerce through their website. The fraudulent representations entice donors all the while making the SPLC wealthy to the violent and financial detriment of those wrongfully designated.”

Investigators backed up the claims with examples of debanking and other financial backlash conservatives have endured due to the map’s influence. The document highlighted violent incidents, including a 2012 shooting at Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C., office by a perpetrator who said he targeted the conservative group due to the SPLC’s “hate” label.

The FBI also interviewed a staffer in September 2025 from Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal organization deemed a “hate” group by the SPLC, according to emails shown in court. The employee referred the FBI to a letter from earlier that year in which Liberty Counsel and other conservative groups complained to the White House about the SPLC’s designations.

Authorities received the December 2025 “Intelligence Briefing” and three others from an unnamed federal informant code-named “F-9,” defense attorneys claimed. “F-9” formerly worked for the SPLC but switched to helping the government.

The December briefing document included claims that the SPLC was concealing “millions of dollars in cash payments to field ‘operatives’ and extremist informants” without reporting the money to the IRS. Furthermore, the charity was using nondisclosure agreements to keep secrets from law enforcement, as well as extorting and blackmailing people for information using their private business information, the briefing alleged.

FBI Director Kash Patel’s investigation into the SPLC revived an old one from 2019 that fizzled out sometime before President Donald Trump’s second term, according to defense filings. Former President Joe Biden’s officials treated the SPLC as an ally, using its research as basis for tracking “Radical Traditionalist” Catholics.

CHARLIE KIRK MURDER SPURRED ON SPLC’S CRIMINAL CHARGES, COURT FILINGS CLAIM

Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Emily Marks denied the SPLC’s own motion to dismiss its charges in August. She scolded both sides in her ruling for what she described as dramatic overtones to their arguments.

“The parties’ briefing is, like much of our modern political discourse, heavy on heated rhetoric, better suited for cable news, or a podcast,” the ruling said. “It emphasizes noise over substance.”

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