CAIR and other nonprofits rally behind SPLC amid federal indictments

Left-wing nonprofits are rallying behind the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as it faces federal fraud charges as a self-described “beacon of hope” for “fighting white supremacy.”

In a blog post written by National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Senior Policy Counsel Mel Wilson, Wilson said: “It is important that we stand with and support the Southern Poverty Law Center until the legal travails are completed, with full confidence that the SPLC will be vindicated.”

Under his comment, Wilson listed a number of “coalition members” in the SPLC who are part of the “Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.”

List included more than a hundred non-profit organizations.

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Separately, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a press release defending the SPLC, saying it stood by the nonprofit and accusing the Justice Department of “targeting” the organization.

“This reported federal targeting of the SPLC appears to be a transparent political attack on the rule of law aimed at undermining the vital role civil rights groups play in the fight against hate groups. This is unacceptable and should not be based on it,” CAIR’s statement said. The statement was included.

“We encourage all Americans and elected officials to stand in solidarity with the SPLC and all other organizations dedicated to the protection of civil rights,” the statement continued.

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CAIR was named as an accomplice in the 2007-2008 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case, in which five members of the HLF were convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization, providing material support, money laundering, and tax evasion, following allegations that the HLF funneled $12.4 million to Hamas in the early 2000s.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, holds a news conference with CAIR California leaders as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith calls for an IRS investigation into the group’s tax-exempt status. (Leonard Ortiz/Digital First Media/Orange County Register/Getty Images)

Although CAIR faced no charges and was only named by prosecutors during the trial, the FBI cut ties with the nonprofit following the case.

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House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano recommending CAIR-California for IRS review. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke to reporters after the Senate Republican luncheon. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to NASW but did not hear back.

Federal officials announced earlier this week that the Southern Poverty Law Center, known for civil rights litigation and racial justice, had been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly funneling millions to members of violent extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations and the National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party).

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The 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity had revenues of approximately $129 million in fiscal 2024, with total assets of approximately $800 million, according to SPLC’s Form 990 filed with the IRS.

The organization says the money is for whistleblowers to report to the SPLC and provide information about the groups and their internal workings.

The indictment said an alleged whistleblower who was paid $270,000 shared “racist social media posts” under SPLC oversight and “helped organize transportation to events” during the nonprofit’s deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Neo Nazis, Alt-Right and White Supremacists attend the night before the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, VA, while white supremacists march with tiki torches on the University of Virginia campus. (Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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“These individuals risked their lives to infiltrate and provide information on the activities of our nation’s most radical and violent extremist groups,” SPLC Interim President and CEO Bryan Fair said in a video statement. he said. “When we began working with reporters, we were living in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which saw church bombings, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system.”

In 1994, an investigative series by the Montgomery Advertiser examined SPLC’s finances at the time and found that the founder focused heavily on fundraising for the nonprofit and ran the organization like a business or corporation. It also revealed that SPLC’s salaries are high and that the nonprofit collects much more money than it spends.

The Montgomery Advertiser was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for its series on SPLC.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in Montgomery, Alabama, in March 2020. (Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)

SPLC co-founder Joe Levin denied the newspaper’s allegations at the time.

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Margaret Huang, who served as the nonprofit’s CEO until her resignation last summer, earned $522,000 a year, Charity Watch reported; SPLC was given an “F” rating in May 2025 “due to having six years of usable asset reserves.”

The indictments also raise questions about whether SPLC donors were misled about how their money was spent, including payments to KKK members and other extremist groups.

“The SPLC indictment is legally valid, well-defended, and constructed in a way that does not survive trial practice. The wire fraud count is based on specific, cited demands telling donors that their money would be used to ‘break up’ violent extremist groups, accompanied by material negligence that more than three million dollars flowed to leaders, fundraisers, and organizers of those same groups,” former federal prosecutor and legal expert Andrew Cherkasky told Fox News Digital.

FBI Director Kash Patel speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, April 21, 2026. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

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Cherkasky noted that paying informants is not illegal and that journalists, watchdog groups and the government use them regularly. However, he stated that “a non-profit organization is criminally liable for the actions of its representatives within the scope of their duties and in the interests of the organization.”

“A senior SPLC employee coordinated payment for documents stolen by a paid source who twice burglarized the headquarters of an extremist group, and a different source was paid six thousand dollars to falsely confess to the theft,” Cherkasky explained. “If proven, this constitutes sponsored criminal activity directed from within the organization and carries corporate exposure that extends beyond the criminal count to potential loss of tax-exempt status, civil liability to victims, and fiduciary exposure for directors and officers.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that the SPLC has not been honest or transparent with its donors.

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“They lied to their donors, promised to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of those extremist groups — even using the funds to facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes by those groups,” Patel said. he said. “This is illegal and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the SPLC but did not hear back.