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Attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote in court papers Tuesday (April 28) that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had been “well aware” of its practice of using informants to uncover extremist groups before issuing last week’s indictment.
A federal grand jury from the Middle District of Alabama indicted the civil rights group on April 21 on 11 counts of alleged financial crimes, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, all in connection with paying confidential informants to investigate right-wing extremist groups.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the Department of Justice’s investigation found the organization had been “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” during a news conference held April 21.
FBI Director Kash Patel added that the SPLC attempted to hide those payments by using fictitious shell companies that spread the funds across multiple accounts.
However, SPLC attorneys argued in court filings that the prosecution aims to criminalize tools the civil rights group has used to gather intelligence on extremist groups for decades, according to NBC News.
The filings state that the SPLC had been using paid informants to provide intelligence to law enforcement, including the FBI, for years, and alleged that the grand jury was "actively weaponized" to prosecute the SPLC.
Attorneys filed two motions: the first seeking disclosure of grand jury proceedings and the second asking the court to address “repeated, false, and prejudicial remarks" from administration officials regarding the case.
In a letter to Kevin Davidson, Acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, the attorneys specifically demanded correction on “a false and unfairly prejudicial public statement" made by Blanche on Fox News on April 21, in which he claimed "there's no information that we have," suggesting the SPLC provided law enforcement with information obtained from paid informants.
Blanche previously claimed that the investigation into the SPLC had been “going on for a long time” before being “shut down” during the Biden administration.
The SPLC's attorneys wrote that these remarks not only violate Justice Department norms but also illustrate "the stunning and blatant irregularity, politicization, and manifest risk of prosecutorial misconduct in this case."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Fitzgerald Pate ordered the Justice Department to respond to the motions by May 5, per NBC.
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