Federal officials allege that former top executives at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) created a secret network of bank accounts to funnel $4.1 million to extremists, a scheme federal prosecutors describe as a "pay-to-hate operation." The investigation, which has expanded significantly from initial reports, centers on the organization's former chief financial officer, Teenie Hutchison, and ex-Intelligence Project chief Heidi Beirich, who are accused of establishing the accounts at Synovus Bank in 2008.
The alleged scheme involved as many as 50 confidential "field sources," identified as "Fs," embedded within extremist organizations across the country. Court filings have so far identified 13 such sources. Among those allegedly paid was Erich Gliebe, former chairman of the neo-Nazi organization National Alliance, who was reportedly known as "The Aryan Barbarian" and allegedly received over $140,000 from 2016 to 2023.
According to federal prosecutors, the operation utilized the three stages of money laundering: placement, layering, and integration. Hutchison and Beirich allegedly created a hidden financial infrastructure to serve as the entry point for payments. Money was then moved through multiple accounts and fictitious companies, designed to obscure the origin of the funds. The final stage involved integrating the proceeds into legitimate activities, making them difficult to distinguish from ordinary business operations.
The indictment, initially detailing $3 million and later increased to $4.1 million, notes that "individuals at the SPLC" secretly funneled donated money to these sources. Hutchison, identified as "Employee-1," and Beirich, "Employee-2," allegedly established nine shell entities with names such as "Center Investigative Agency" and "Fox Photography" to conceal the SPLC's involvement.
Heidi Beirich, who worked at the SPLC for two decades and became a prominent voice on hate and extremism, left the organization in late 2019, shortly before the alleged operation faced scrutiny. Teenie Hutchison remained with the SPLC, last listed on its IRS 990 filing in October 2022. The alleged violations reportedly continued after both executives' tenures.
Federal investigators noted that the accounts remained active until August 2020, when Synovus Bank initiated an internal review. In September 2021, the SPLC's then-President and Chief Executive Officer, Margaret Huang, and the SPLC Board Chair allegedly acknowledged in writing to Synovus Bank that the fictitious accounts were operated under the organization's authority. This acknowledgment is central to the government's legal theory that the operation was not the work of rogue employees but was directed from the top.
Synovus Bank has stated it is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation. Hutchison, Beirich, and Huang did not respond to requests for comment. The SPLC filed a motion to dismiss the case in late May, and its interim president, Bryan Fair, denied any wrongdoing before the House Judiciary Committee.
The allegations have drawn criticism from some, including British Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, whom the SPLC had previously labeled an "anti-Muslim extremist." Nawaz, who settled a defamation lawsuit with the SPLC for $3.375 million in 2018, stated that the organization's alleged practices are corrupt and called for the SPLC to "cease to exist."