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The Southern Poverty Law Center more than doubled its revenue in the months following the deadly 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally — a surge now drawing renewed scrutiny after a Department of Justice indictment alleged the group paid an informant tied to the event’s organizers.
The 2017 rally, which left one woman dead, became a cultural flashpoint over white nationalism and political violence, driving widespread condemnation and a surge in donations to civil rights groups, including the SPLC. The fallout also shaped the 2020 presidential election, as President Donald Trump’s response — including his remarks about “very fine people” on both sides — was hammered by the left, with former President Joe Biden later citing Charlottesville as a reason he entered the race.
“For years, the Left used the ‘Jews will not replace us’ 2017 Unite the Right rally as proof of rampant antisemitism on the Right. Turns out, it was underwritten by the Leftist SPLC, which allegedly funded organizers, supervised racist posts, and coordinated transportation. Wild,” journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote on X, one of many conservatives who argue the allegations raise questions about whether the SPLC’s use of paid informants may have played a role in amplifying or facilitating extremist activity.
According to the indictment from the Department of Justice, the SPLC paid an informant network dating back to the 1980s, including a “covert network” that was associated with or infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and other groups at the organization’s direction.
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Neo Nazis, alt-right members, and white supremacists march with tiki torches through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, Va., the night before the Unite the Right rally. (Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
One source, identified as “F-37,” was part of an “online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event.”
“[F-37] attended the event at the direction of the SPLC. F-37 made racist postings under the supervision of the SPLC and helped coordinate transportation to the event for several attendees. Between 2015 and 2023, the SPLC secretly paid F-37 more than $270,000.00.”
A spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center told Fox News Digital the organization is reviewing the charges and called the allegations “false,” defending its work monitoring extremist groups and saying its use of informants “saved lives.” The group said it plans to vigorously defend itself and continue its mission of combating hate.
While the indictment alleges the SPLC paid informants tied to individuals involved in white supremacist groups, including organizers of the Unite the Right rally, Fox News found the organization’s revenue surged in the immediate aftermath of the Charlottesville violence.
Clashes occurred at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In 2016, total public support and net assets topped $51 million, while by October 2017, that figure had grown to $133 million, a surge that followed the Unite the Right rally and was driven in part by donations from prominent public figures, including George Clooney and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Clooney said at the time that he and wife Amal “wanted to add our voice and financial assistance to the ongoing fight for equality… there are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”
Cook, who also donated to the Anti-Defamation League after the rally, said that what “occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country. Hate is a cancer, and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path; its scars last generations.”
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Resorts also donated $1 million at the time, according to records uncovered by Fox News Digital.
Following the 2017 rally, national Democrats latched on to anti-hate messaging proliferated by the SPLC and others.
Many critics lambasted Trump’s initial reaction, in which he observed that some people present before the rally turned violent were opposing the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue.
“I was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to Robert E. Lee, a great general. Whether you like it or not, he was one of the great generals,” Trump said.
Former President Joe Biden said at the 2024 Democratic National Convention that he “ran for president in 2020 because of what I saw in Charlottesville.”
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“Extremists coming out of the woods carrying torches, their veins bulging from their necks, carrying Nazi swastikas and chanting the same exact antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the early ’30s,” Biden said, before characterizing Trump’s comments as an endorsement of white supremacy and violence.
Trump has since referred to criticism of his remarks as the “‘very fine people’ hoax.”
The 11-count indictment charges the SPLC with wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, offenses that could carry significant financial penalties, restitution and forfeiture if proven in court.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, David Spunt, Jake Gibson and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
