Source: Fox News
Summary
Federal officials told Fox News Digital that former Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) executives Teenie Hutchison and Heidi Beirich allegedly used a network of checking accounts to secretly funnel $4.1 million to extremists, including one nicknamed “The Aryan Barbarian.” The SPLC’s former chief financial officer Hutchison and ex-Intelligence Project chief Beirich allegedly created the accounts at Synovus Bank in 2008. The network ultimately supported secret payments to as many as 50 confidential “field sources,” called “Fs,” embedded within extremist organizations around the country.
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As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
The SPLC’s alleged operation involved creating a network of secret bank accounts to pay informants, concealing the source of the money. The accounts were allegedly used to fund far-right extremists, including one nicknamed “The Aryan Barbarian.” The SPLC’s former executives, Hutchison and Beirich, are accused of orchestrating the operation. The nonprofit’s interim president and chief executive officer, Bryan Fair, has denied any wrongdoing by the SPLC. The allegations have raised significant red flags for law enforcement, with investigators describing an operation in which financial flows, informants, public content, and political work by the SPLC and its sister organizations were closely linked.
The SPLC’s alleged system of paying extremists has been described as corrupt by some targets of the organization, including Maajid Nawaz, a British Muslim reformer who founded the Quilliam Foundation to combat Islamist extremism. Nawaz recently told Fox News Digital that the SPLC’s alleged system is corrupt and that he feels vindicated by the federal prosecution against the nonprofit.
