Remember Unite the Right? It was all a leftwing hoax. Now come the indictments

By SUZANNE DOWNING

April 21, 2026 – The US Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges for helping stage so-called “white supremacist” rallies between 2014 and 2023 in order to ignite hate for whites.

According to the indictment, unsealed Tuesday, federal prosecutors allege the SPLC engaged in a years-long scheme involving payments to informants embedded within extremist organizations. The charges include 11 counts, ranging from wire fraud and bank fraud to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors contend that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid more than $3 million to individuals affiliated with groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations in exchange for information.

Among charges are allegations such as this one:

“F-37 was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC. F-37 made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees. Between 2015 and 2023, the SPLC secretly paid F-37 more than $270,000.00.”

Federal officials argue that the payments went beyond intelligence-gathering and instead misled donors about how their contributions were being used. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the organization was “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose” by financially supporting sources who, in some cases, allegedly engaged in or encouraged hateful activity.

In other words, the White House and President Biden’s claims that white supremacy groups were the biggest threat to America were all a hoax manufactured by the SPLC and leftists, with possible coordination with the White House.

The SPLC, which is staffed heavily with leftist lawyers, disputes those claims. Interim CEO Bryan Fair called the investigation politically motivated and said the informant program, now discontinued, was designed to gather credible intelligence on violent extremist groups and, at times, assist law enforcement.

While the indictment focuses narrowly on alleged financial misconduct, it arrives amid a broader and highly charged political context. For years, conservative organizations and Republican officials have accused the SPLC of unfairly labeling mainstream conservative and Christian groups as “hate groups” through its widely cited “Hate Map” and related reports.

Groups such as the Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Focus on the Family have been included in SPLC reports, prompting criticism that the designations are based more on ideological differences, particularly on issues like religious liberty and LGBTQ+ policy—than on evidence of violence or criminal activity. The Mat-Su chapter of Moms for Liberty has been included on the group’s map of hate groups in Alaska.

Those criticisms have carried into government. In late 2025, House Republicans convened a hearing examining the SPLC’s role in shaping federal civil rights policy, alleging the group exerted undue influence during the prior administration. Around the same time, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the bureau would cut ties with the organization, describing it as partisan and unreliable.

In 2023, the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last year by a leftist, wrote on X that SPLC is a hate group. His post was “community noted” by X, which defended the group’s reputation as a civil rights group. The proposed community note never got enough up-votes to go through, however.

The SPLC has consistently defended its methodology, saying its designations are based on documented rhetoric, activities, and affiliations tied to extremism.

The current indictment is confined to allegations of fraud tied to the informant program, remembered by many as the group of khaki-pant-wearing young white men in masks who appeared to be white supremacist activist but were, in fact, paid actors.

The case now moves into the federal court system, where prosecutors will attempt to prove that donor funds were misused and that the organization’s actions crossed legal lines. Those paid actors who participated in the white supremacist marches will be put under oath.

And the investigation by the Department of Justice will no doubt widen to include the Biden Administration and its possible involvement.