Story perspectives

SPLC Indicted for $3M Hate-Group Money-Laundering Scheme

4/25/2026

Summary

Story summary

The Poverty Law Center was indicted in Alabama for using companies Fox Photography and Rare Books Warehouse to hide payments to leaders.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC paid $3 million to hate-group members and misled donors.
The 11-count indictment lists fraud and money-laundering charges and a $1 million payment to an Imperial Wizard.
Judge Emily Marks will preside while FBI Director Kash Patel calls the scheme a fraud operation.

History

Historical Context

In 1998 the FBI’s Operation Klan Shield uncovered a $2.5 million KKK money-laundering scheme, seizing $1.2 million and naming the SPLC as an intermediary. The probe echoes Ron Stallworth’s 1972 undercover infiltration of a Colorado Springs Klan chapter and the 1996 Keshia Thomas photo that symbolized anti-KKK resistance, themes later dramatized in Spike Lee’s 2018 film BlacKkKlansman.

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Story summary

The Poverty Law Center was indicted in Alabama for using companies Fox Photography and Rare Books Warehouse to hide payments to leaders.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the SPLC paid $3 million to hate-group members and misled donors.
The 11-count indictment lists fraud and money-laundering charges and a $1 million payment to an Imperial Wizard.
Judge Emily Marks will preside while FBI Director Kash Patel calls the scheme a fraud operation.

1 / 2