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A top Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) official has been accused of helping funnel more than $1.2 million in donor funds to a confidential informant who infiltrated a neo-Nazi organization — a source prosecutors say was also the official’s secret romantic partner.
The details were revealed in a superseding indictment filed June 2 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the SPLC, which has faced mounting scrutiny over allegations that it funded individuals tied to extremist groups it publicly opposed.
According to the document, the director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project was in a secret romantic relationship with a paid field source who infiltrated a neo-Nazi organization known as the National Alliance at the direction of SPLC.
The SPLC director reportedly shared a home with the source and allegedly used a fake company to funnel charitable funds to the partner. A significant portion of the money reportedly ended up in a shared bank account used to fund their life together.
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Based on details laid out in the superseding indictment, the individual was identified only as the “person who would become Director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.” The official reportedly conducted the financial transactions between 2015 and 2021.
According to congressional and SPLC documents, the director at that time was Heidi L. Beirich, an extremism researcher who served in the role from 2012 to 2019.
The SPLC declined to comment to Fox News Digital.
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Prosecutors allege that a fake shell company created by the SPLC, known as “Tech Writers,” was used to funnel donor money directly to the official’s romantic partner.
“The SPLC actively led donors to believe that their donations would be used to ‘dismantle’ violent extremist groups,” the indictment stated. “However, the SPLC hid from donors the fact that a portion of their donated funds was being secretly used to support extremist groups and to fund their violent, racist, and extremist activities.”
Investigators reportedly traced roughly $140,000 in donor funds directly from the SPLC’s main operating account through the Tech Writers shell company and ultimately into the couple’s shared personal bank account.
Prosecutors said those funds accounted for roughly two-thirds of the money held in the couple’s joint accounts and were used to pay everyday household and living expenses.
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