Florida Attorney General Subpoenas Southern Poverty Law Center Over Fundraising Practices
Attorney General targets civil rights organization over alleged failure to disclose paid informant program to donors.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a subpoena to the Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday, alleging the civil rights organization engaged in deceptive fundraising practices in Florida.
Uthmeier is demanding documentation to establish whether Floridians donated to the organization, whether the SPLC disclosed its use of paid informants, and whether it has donated money to or paid any groups that appear on its own list of extremist organizations.
Federal Investigation Prompts State Action
The state subpoena follows a federal indictment last month in which the U.S. Department of Justice charged the SPLC with wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. The federal case alleges the organization misled donors by failing to disclose its use of paid informants inside groups it was working to oppose, including the Ku Klux Klan.
“The SPLC raises millions in charitable donations every year, while allegedly paying members and leaders within the very groups it purports to fight,” Uthmeier said in a news release. “SPLC appears to be running a deceptive organization that pays informants to manufacture racism on its behalf. If these allegations are true, there will be consequences.”
Allegations of Paid Informant Program
The federal indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid at least $3 million to eight people, with money allegedly flowing to violent extremist groups. According to the charges, the organization recruited and paid informants to gather intelligence from inside the groups it was working against.
SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair responded to the federal indictments with a statement to the Alabama Reflector, saying the organization was “outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC — an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive.”
Political Motivations Alleged
Following the federal indictment, Fair accused President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice of targeting the SPLC for political purposes. The Montgomery, Alabama-based organization has been a prominent civil rights advocacy group for more than five decades.
The state investigation represents a new front in the legal challenges facing the SPLC, as Florida seeks to determine whether the organization’s fundraising practices violated state laws regarding charitable organizations operating within Florida’s borders.
The subpoena marks the latest action in what appears to be a coordinated effort by federal and state authorities to scrutinize the SPLC’s financial practices and disclosure policies regarding its intelligence-gathering operations.
