Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall discusses role in investigation of Southern Poverty Law Center
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — New details are emerging in a legal case against the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, as Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall discussed the investigation in an exclusive interview with Action 8 News.
A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday charges the organization with 11 counts of fraud, alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars and secretly paid leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information. Marshall said his office was part of a coalition that evaluated and investigated the allegations.
“We’re very familiar with the allegations because we were involved with the team early on that was initiating this investigation,” Marshall said. He added that federal authorities were best positioned to pursue the case, citing statutes involving corporate criminal liability, as well as mail and wire fraud. Marshall said his office worked alongside federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Postal Service, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle District of Alabama.
Marshall said the investigation began in 2021, early in President Joe Biden’s administration.
“At that time the Biden administration had stopped this investigation in its tracks with the federal officials, and now with President Trump we’ve obviously seen the result of the DOJ in this case,” Marshall said.
In a video posted to the SPLC’s website, interim President and CEO Bryan Fair said the group plans to fight the charges.
“The federal government has been weaponized to dismantle the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable people and any organization like ours that tries to stand in the breach,” Fair said.
As of Thursday afternoon, court records show a judge has not yet been assigned to the case. The case will be prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office.
