Taking $3 million from donors under the pretense of fighting hate and giving it to those who are infamous for stoking hate is the ultimate hypocrisy, FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday, discussing the indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
“Money doesn’t lie,” Patel explained in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity”:
“The charity that supposedly fought the Klan - funded the Klan.
“The charity that supposedly fought Neo-Nazis - funded Neo-Nazis.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center led a methodical, calculated scheme to defraud their donor base of $3 million.”
The FBI director said that The Southern Poverty Law Center:
- Lied to donors.
- Used an illicit banking structure system to create shell companies.
- Used the shell companies to hide its money and the fact that it was sent to infamous hate groups.
- Sent the money specifically for the purpose of sowing discord and hate into the U.S.
Patel called SPLC’s behavior “the ultimate definition of hypocrisy,” since the organization was “paying the very villains of our society they supposedly wanted to protect us from,” Patel said:
“If you look at the indictment produced by the Department of Justice and the FBI you will see that these banking institutions tie directly to the funding mechanisms, which the Southern Poverty Law Center used to fund at least eight hate groups they supposedly wanted to take out - but they were paying the very villains of our society they supposedly wanted to protect us from.”
The money doesn’t lie.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 23, 2026
The evidence shows the charity who supposedly fought the Klan - FUNDED the Klan.
The charity who supposedly fought Neo-nazis - FUNDED Neo-nazis.
The SPLC engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, funded the very hate groups they… pic.twitter.com/azUPhfEfgM
Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC allegedly secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including:
- Ku Klux Klan
- United Klans of America
- Unite the Right
- National Alliance
- National Socialist Movement
- Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club
- National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party)
- American Front
Charges in the 11-count grand jury indictment issued Tuesday include:
- Wire fraud,
- False statements to a federally insured bank, and
- Conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
“These people knew what they were doing. It was calculated,” Patel said, noting that it’s impossible to accidentally set up shell companies, deceive the financial banking sector, solicit thousands of donations and millions of dollars and use the media to promote lies without creating a sophisticated complex system.
The SPLC relied on the fake news media and friends in Congress to promote its narrative and lies, Director Patel said.
“This was done in a caldron of hate by the very group that said they were going to eliminate hate,” Patel said.
