The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a motion in federal court on Tuesday to dismiss the charges against it as "vindictive prosecution."
The motion argues that the charges brought against the SPLC by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) amount to retaliation.
Citing statements and actions by President Donald Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, other high-ranking DOJ officials and FBI Director Kash Patel, the SPLC argues that the charges against it were brought not because of any criminal activity, but because the SPLC has been critical of the Administration's policies and has published about extremist views held by administration officials.
"For weeks, we have been arguing against these false allegations levied against the 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 multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive," Bryan Fair, SPLC interim president and CEO, said. "The government can't prosecute the SPLC as payback for its protected speech — it violates basic constitutional rights."
A Montgomery grand jury returned an indictment in April charging the SPLC with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank and money laundering.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division filed two forfeiture actions to recover alleged proceeds from the organization's fraud scheme. The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division.
According to the indictment, starting in the 1980s, the SPLC began operating a covert network of individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, or who had infiltrated violent extremist groups at the SPLC's direction. Unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website, according to the DOJ.
The SPLC pleaded not guilty to the charges at a May hearing in federal court in Montgomery. A trial has been set for October.
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