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The leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty on behalf of the civil rights group Thursday to federal charges alleging the organization defrauded donors by failing to disclose that money would be paid to informants inside extremist groups, according to court reporting by the Associated Press.

Bryan Fair, the SPLC’s interim president and CEO, appeared in federal court in Montgomery representing the nonprofit on charges that include money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud and false statements to a bank. The case stems from an indictment filed April 21 by the U.S. Department of Justice, the AP reported.

The charges are framed by the Justice Department as an extraordinary strike against the Alabama-based organization that works to combat discrimination and racism, particularly in states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. The SPLC has denied wrongdoing, and the AP reported that no individuals are charged in the case.

Prosecutors said the SPLC used donor money to fund informants connected to extremist groups and that those payments included funds going to informants affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, the National Socialist Party of America and other groups between 2014 and 2023. The indictment also says the informants were used in a way prosecutors characterize as enabling extremism rather than combating it.

Fair, in a statement released after Thursday’s hearing, said the charges are wrong and argued that the SPLC’s informant program served a protective purpose. He said the payments went to confidential informants to monitor threats of violence from extremist groups, adding that information gathered through the program helped prevent threats and attacks and that the information was frequently shared with the FBI.

Fair said, “The charges against the SPLC are provably wrong; they are based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law,” in the statement. He continued, “Our informant program was successful in accomplishing its purposes: Threats and attacks were prevented, criminal activity was stopped, and information was gathered to dismantle the efforts of hate and extremist groups.”

The government’s position, as described in the AP reporting, contrasts with that defense account. The Justice Department contends that the SPLC’s donor money funded informants within the same extremism the group says it targets, and it alleges that at least $3 million was directed to informants associated with specific extremist organizations over the period covered by the indictment.

During the Thursday arraignment, the SPLC’s attorney Adde Lowell said the defense may seek to dismiss the charges in the coming weeks, arguing “vindictive prosecution.” The AP reported that the contention echoed supporters’ claims that the SPLC is being unfairly targeted by the Trump administration for its civil rights work.

U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson rejected that framing after the trial, saying, “There was nothing vindictive about this prosecution,” the AP reported. The AP also said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche recently acknowledged that the organization has a history of sharing information with law enforcement after Blanche was challenged for saying the opposite, noting Blanche said the sharing was “well-documented” and that the organization “aren’t charged with any of that conduct.”

The SPLC’s case also unfolds amid ongoing political and public disputes over the group’s extremism reporting. The AP reported that the SPLC has drawn criticism from conservatives, including FBI Director Kash Patel, especially after it included Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA in a report about “hate and extremism.” The AP noted that Kirk was killed during a Utah college appearance in 2025.

The AP reported the trial is set to begin in October.