Southern Poverty Law Center pleads not guilty in federal fraud case

The Southern Poverty Law Center has pleaded not guilty in a federal case in Alabama alleging fraud and conspiracy to launder money linked to its informant programme.

The 11-count indictment was filed last month.

Prosecutors allege the organisation covertly funneled more than $3m to confidential sources inside extremist groups between 2014 and 2023.

They also say officials misled donors about how the money would be used and lied to banks about who owned certain entities.

The case is being handled by the US attorney for the middle district of Alabama, which includes Montgomery.

Bryan Fair, the centre's interim president and chief executive, said the charges were "provably wrong" and based on inaccurate facts and a misapplication of law.

The indictment centres on a programme the civil rights organisation used to pay informants to monitor right-wing extremist groups.

According to the supplied material, that programme no longer exists.

The case matters because it places a prominent civil rights group under federal criminal scrutiny over how it funded and managed its monitoring work.

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