Indictment adds defendant and charges in case against the Southern Poverty Law Center
Heidi Beirich, Intelligence Project Director Southern Poverty Law Center, speaks during the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York, Thursday, April 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) – A federal grand jury in Montgomery has returned a second superseding indictment adding a defendant and additional charges in the case against the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The second superseding indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday, charges 59-year-old Heidi L. Beirich, of Palm Springs, California, along with the SPLC, with new charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank.
The new indictment also adds Beirich as a defendant to the previously charged count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering and charges the SPLC with an additional count of concealment money laundering. Beirich was served with an arrest warrant this morning in the Central District of California and is expected to make her initial appearance in federal court there this afternoon.
The charges arise from an alleged scheme involving the use of donated funds and financial accounts associated with fictitious entities. As previously alleged, the scheme involved efforts to conceal the source, ownership, and control of funds and to make false representations concerning the use of donated money and the operation of financial accounts.
The second superseding indictment expands the case to include the alleged participation of Beirich and additional conduct involving the movement and concealment of proceeds.
The Southern Poverty Law Center was previously charged in an 11-count indictment returned in April 2026 with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
The second superseding indictment alleges that, between 2007 and 2023, more than $4 million in donated funds were secretly funneled to individuals associated with various violent extremist groups.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating this case. Assistant United States Attorney Kevin P. Davidson is prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
