According to the Justice Department, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is guilty of fraudulently manufacturing and fabricating the very “hate” they have claimed to be exposing and fighting with the hundreds of millions of dollars they’ve extorted from businesses and individuals.
The federal indictment announced on Tuesday lays out the stunning charges: the radical Alabama-based group has deceptively funneled millions of dollars to hate groups like the KKK in order to get them to stir up the very hate they claim to be combating.
Remember the event in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 that spiraled out of control and became the focal point of supposed racial tension? According to the Department of Justice, the SPLC helped fund — and inflame the melee.
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” stated Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked.”
To give you perspective on just how massive the deception extends, you would be interested to know the SPLC has somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 “hate and antigovernment extremist groups” on their list. They’ve had Focus on the Family on their “watch list” for years and in 2025, elevated the ministry to its “hate map.”
As it turns out, fighting “hate” is a lucrative endeavor for the SPLC — and the longer their list of “hateful” organizations and individuals, the more funds they’re able to raise. The group has been raising upwards of $170 million every year for decades — and allegedly extorting and guilting many businesses into contributing to them.
Back in 2017, Apple, Inc., donated $2 million to the SPLC in the Charlottesville riots. At the time, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “Hate is a cancer, and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path.”
Apple isn’t alone, of course. Whether through corporate foundation grants or donor-advised fund giving, dozens of Fortune 500 companies have been contributing to the alleged scheme and scam. Companies like Cisco, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab and Vanguard have all given to the organization.
Do you see how diabolical the SPLC tactics have proven to be?
Declare your group the leading fighter against hate and then broaden the definition of hate so widely as to include any group that politically or even morally sees things differently. Then take some of the donor money you’ve already raised and use it to hire thugs who will manufacture and fan that hate.
With the cooperation and willing and enthusiastic accomplices in the media, you then publicize and propagandize the high-profile incidents and use them to convince corporate America to help you fight the “hate” you created.
As we’ve previously chronicled, the SPLC tactics aren’t just harmless fundraising tactics. Instead, their labeling of faith-based groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council carry the potential of deadly consequences. You likely remember the unhinged individual who, inspired by the SPLC “hate list,” shot a security guard at FRC and planned to kill many more.
This is a developing story and there will be much more to say about it in the coming days. For now, though, we can take heart in King Solomon’s words: “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy” (Proverbs 12:22). He also declared, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will not go free” (Proverbs 19:5).
Please join us in praying for justice as this situation unfolds.