Former SPLC executive faces federal fraud charges

Federal prosecutors have charged Heidi Beirich, a prominent researcher of far-right extremism and former Southern Poverty Law Center executive, in an expanding criminal case over the civil rights group’s payments to informants who infiltrated white supremacist organizations.

Beirich was arrested and charged in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday. Prosecutors charged her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, The Guardian reported. CBS News, citing court documents unsealed Wednesday, reported that the superseding indictment charges her with wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

The indictment marks the first time an individual connected to the SPLC has been charged in the case, which the Justice Department announced in April. The SPLC has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges.

Prosecutors allege the SPLC misled donors and banks by saying it was dismantling white supremacist and extremist groups while routing money through shell accounts to confidential informants inside those groups. The government says the payments funded “violent, racist and extremist activities,” according to court documents cited by CBS News. Prosecutors also allege the group used bank accounts set up on behalf of fictitious entities to conceal the identities of informants.

The SPLC has strongly denied the allegations. The organization says federal authorities knew about its use of informants, that the government has used information collected through the program, and that the charges are politically motivated. The group says its informant program prevented violence and saved lives.

The indictment alleges Beirich oversaw payments to informants, including one with whom she had a “romantic relationship.” NBC News reported that the informant infiltrated the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, and was paid more than $1.2 million over several years. The indictment also alleges $140,000 in donor money flowed from an SPLC-operated account into joint bank accounts Beirich shared with that informant between 2015 and 2021, and that she used some of the funds for personal living expenses, CBS News reported.

Beirich’s lawyer, Michael J. Proctor, said she is innocent and called the case politically motivated.

“A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents,” Proctor said in a statement. “Heidi Beirich has dedicated her life to fighting hate groups and extremist movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists.”

He added that violent extremists had not stopped or intimidated Beirich during her time at the SPLC or after she left. “Dr. Beirich won’t be silenced or intimidated by the government’s false and politicized allegations now,” Proctor told CBS News.

Beirich is now chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. She previously worked at the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, the nonprofit’s monitoring and research arm, after joining the organization as a writer in 1999, according to CBS News. She left the SPLC in December 2019. NBC News and The Guardian described her as a former SPLC chief financial officer; CBS News reported that Attorney General Todd Blanche mistakenly identified her as the group’s former CFO.

At an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Blanche said the case involved allegations that Beirich “was part of the effort to open bank accounts” in fictitious company names and make payments to people for reasons that were not accurately described.

A federal judge in Alabama last week declined to dismiss the case against the SPLC, rejecting the group’s argument that it was being targeted for exercising its First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled the SPLC had not provided objective evidence showing prosecutors brought the case because of the group’s speech. CBS News reported that Beirich’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 19.