Former Southern Poverty Law Center official charged in DOJ fraud case
Heidi Beirich (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery )
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A former Southern Poverty Law Center official has been charged as part of the Justice Department’s broader criminal case against the Alabama-based civil rights group, which has long faced criticism from conservatives who accuse the nonprofit of political bias.
Dig deeper:
Heidi Beirich, a political extremism expert who left the law center about six years ago, was named in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
Beirich, 59, of Palm Springs, California, is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. She was charged in the government’s existing case against the SPLC in Montgomery, Alabama.
In ankle cuffs and wearing a red T-shirt, Beirich made her initial court appearance for a bond hearing in Riverside, California, Wednesday afternoon. She did not enter a plea and U.S. Magistrate Judge David T. Bristow ordered her to surrender her passport and appear in court in Alabama within two weeks.
The judge released Beirich on her own recognizance after prosecutors declined to file a request for detention. Her lawyer, Michael Proctor, said in court that Beirich is a "highly, highly responsible, pro-social and trustworthy" member of society with no criminal history.
What they're saying:
Outside the courthouse, Proctor said his client is innocent of the charges and described the case as politically motivated.
"She has dedicated her life to fighting the KKK, neo-Nazi groups, extremists. And for all of that life’s work, we’re all safer. We’re all better as a community," he told The Associated Press. "It is not just ironic, but terrible, that for this work she’s been indicted by the current Department of Justice."
The other side:
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the new charges at a news briefing in Washington, but did not name Beirich. CNN was first to report on the charges against Beirich.
"This is exactly what we said would happen in a case like this," Blanche said. "Our investigators and the U.S. Attorneys and the agents working the case will keep on working it even after the initial indictment."
Big picture view:
An SPLC spokesperson said the case against it and Beirich "will not shake our resolve."
"Taking on violent hate and extremist groups is among the most dangerous work there is, and we believe it is also among the most important work we do," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We are confident in our position and look forward to presenting the evidence and making our case in court."
Beirich led the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, which incurred the anger of conservatives with its annual report on organizations that it classified as hate groups. Critics accused the law center of unfairly tarnishing right-wing groups with the same label that it applied to white supremacists.
Beirich co-founded the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism in 2020 after leaving the SPLC. She has testified before Congress about far-right extremism and is frequently interviewed about the subject by news outlets. Her current organization did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Wednesday.
A superseding indictment filed in June appears to refer to Beirich as "Employee-2" and by her former title as director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.
The indictment alleges that between 2007 and 2023, more than $4 million in donated funds were secretly funneled to people who infiltrated or were associated with violent extremist groups. Prosecutors said some of the money was used for recruiting new members and purchasing Ku Klux Klan robes and materials for cross-burning ceremonies.
The indictment says "Employee-2" oversaw the payment of donor money to SPLC informants or "field sources," including KKK members and white nationalists who initially approached the SPLC for help leaving the extremist organizations. The SPLC employee was in a romantic relationship with a source who infiltrated a neo-Nazi group at the direction of the law center, the indictment alleges
Proctor said Beirich "won’t be silenced or intimidated by the government’s false and politicized allegations."
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in the story comes primarily from federal court records, including the indictment against Heidi Beirich and the broader SPLC case, as well as her bond hearing in Riverside, California. This story was reported from Los Angeles.