Ex-Southern Poverty Law Center official charged in broader criminal case
against group
[August 13, 2026]
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, KIMBERLY CHANDLER and JAIMIE DING
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A former Southern Poverty Law Center official
has been charged in the Department of Justice’s broader criminal case
against the Alabama-based civil rights group, a frequent target of
conservative critics who claim the nonprofit is politically biased.
Heidi Beirich, a political extremism expert who left the law center
about six years ago, was named in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
Beirich, 59, of Palm Springs, California, is charged with wire fraud
conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured
bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. She was
charged in the government’s existing case against the SPLC in
Montgomery, Alabama.
In ankle cuffs and wearing a red T-shirt, Beirich made her initial court
appearance for a bond hearing in Riverside, California, Wednesday
afternoon. She did not enter a plea and U.S. Magistrate Judge David T.
Bristow ordered her to surrender her passport and appear in court in
Alabama within two weeks.
The judge released Beirich on her own recognizance after prosecutors
declined to file a request for detention. Her lawyer, Michael Proctor,
said in court that Beirich is a “highly, highly responsible, pro-social
and trustworthy” member of society with no criminal history.
Outside the courthouse, Proctor said his client is innocent of the
charges and described the case as politically motivated.
“She has dedicated her life to fighting the KKK, neo-Nazi groups,
extremists. And for all of that life’s work, we’re all safer. We’re all
better as a community," he told The Associated Press. “It is not just
ironic, but terrible, that for this work she’s been indicted by the
current Department of Justice.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the new charges at a news
briefing in Washington, but did not name Beirich. CNN was first to
report on the charges against Beirich.
“This is exactly what we said would happen in a case like this,” Blanche
said. “Our investigators and the U.S. Attorneys and the agents working
the case will keep on working it even after the initial indictment.”
An SPLC spokesperson said the case against it and Beirich “will not
shake our resolve.”
“Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous
work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work
we do," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We are confident in our
position and look forward to presenting the evidence and making our case
in court.”
[to top of second column]
|
Heidi Beirich, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaks during the
Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York, April 6,
2017. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Beirich led the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, which incurred the
anger of conservatives with its annual report on organizations that
it classified as hate groups. Critics accused the law center of
unfairly tarnishing right-wing groups with the same label that it
applied to white supremacists.
Beirich co-founded the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism in
2020 after leaving the SPLC. She has testified before Congress about
far-right extremism and is frequently interviewed about the subject
by news outlets. Her current organization did not immediately
respond to emails seeking comment Wednesday.
A superseding indictment filed in June appears to refer to Beirich
as “Employee-2” and by her former title as director of the SPLC’s
Intelligence Project.
The indictment alleges that between 2007 and 2023, more than $4
million in donated funds were secretly funneled to people who
infiltrated or were associated with violent extremist groups.
Prosecutors said some of the money was used for recruiting new
members and purchasing Ku Klux Klan robes and materials for
cross-burning ceremonies.
The indictment says “Employee-2” oversaw the payment of donor money
to SPLC informants or “field sources," including KKK members and
white nationalists who initially approached the SPLC for help
leaving the extremist organizations. The SPLC employee was in a
romantic relationship with a source who infiltrated a neo-Nazi group
at the direction of the law center, the indictment alleges
Proctor said Beirich “won’t be silenced or intimidated by the
government’s false and politicized allegations.”
____
Kunzelman reported from Washington and Chandler from Montgomery,
Ala. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and
Collin Binkley in Washington and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles
contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
