The Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly paid an informant who was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as they publicly condemned the event.

According to a federal indictment against the civil rights group on Tuesday, the informant allegedly made “racist postings” under the organization’s supervision, attended the rally, and helped coordinate transportation for several attendees. Prosecutors say the individual was paid over $270,000 between 2015 and 2023.

The allegations have renewed attention to past claims by right-wing commentators surrounding the Charlottesville rally. At the time, commentators, including Alex Jones, claimed the event may have been a “false flag” operation. Jones even explicitly connected the event to the SPLC, claiming they hired individuals to pose as extremists. The claims were widely dismissed as conspiracy theories, even by the SPLC itself. In 2018, one year after the rally, the group published an article criticising such claims, describing them as “conspiracy theories” and “falsehoods.”

The SPLC wrote in the article, “The conspiracy theories, varied and inconsistent but with a few central themes, were perpetuated by some of the usual suspects — Alex Jones and Infowars, Gateway Pundit and other extreme-right news sites as well as the online cesspools of 4chan and Reddit — but some of the falsehoods found purchase with more mainstream figures, like the conservative pundit and author (and recent recipient of a presidential pardon) Dinesh D’Souza and a slate of Republican congressmen.”

The Charlottesville rally became a major flashpoint in national politics. Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly cited remarks made by President Donald Trump following the event, falsely claiming that he referred to white supremacists as “fine people,” when, in full context, he explicitly condemned the extremists at the event. 

The issue continued to surface years later, including during the 2024 presidential election, where Vice President Kamala Harris referenced Charlottesville during her debate with Trump. Harris stated that Trump had called people “spewing hate” very fine people. The SPLC’s political action committee endorsed Harris in that election.

The indictment also alleges a broader pattern of conduct by the SPLC, accusing the organization of maintaining a covert network of informants since the 1980s. Prosecutors accuse the group of raising millions of dollars that were allegedly used to pay leaders of extremist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan, for information. Some of those funds were allegedly used by extremists to carry out crimes.

Federal authorities further allege that the organization made false statements to banks in order to establish accounts used to distribute payments to informants. 

One informant referenced in the indictment was described as a former director of a faction of the Aryan Nations and a former KKK member. Prosecutors say the individual was featured on the organization’s “extremist files” webpage while simultaneously receiving more than $70,000 in payments.

The SPLC faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case was filed in federal court in Alabama.

“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.