Extremism expert charged in case targeting Southern Poverty Law Center’s use of informants

A former official at the Southern Poverty Law Center is now facing federal charges in connection with a case the Justice Department brought over the way the organization made payments to informants who provided details on extremist organizations. Heidi Beirich has been charged in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, her attorney said. Attorney General Todd Blanche said at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday that the case involved allegations Beirich “was part of the effort to open bank accounts and completely fictitious companies’ names and make payments that to individuals for reasons that were not that were not accurate as as described.” CNN first reported on the charges against Beirich. “A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents,” Beirich attorney Michael J. Proctor said in a statement. “Heidi Beirich has dedicated her life to fighting hate groups and extremist movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists. She has combatted these hateful, ugly, and un-American extremists and their repeated uses of violence and intimidation in order to promote a fairer, safer, and more just America. Her decades-long record of success dismantling hate groups—and the resulting threats to her life—speak volumes. For this, she has been indicted.” Beirich is the former chief financial officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The indictment alleges that Beirich “was in a romantic relationship” with one informant who infiltrated the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, and was paid more than $1.2 million over the court of several years. The charges were a part of the Justice Department’s effort to prosecute the nonprofit over the alleged payments, which prosecutors say were done through shell companies, without the knowledge of donors. But the Southern Povery Law Center said that federal authorities were aware of the organization’s use of informants, mischaracterized the program and that the Trump administration is targeting the group because of its politics. The group said the government has used information gathered by its informants in the past. The nonprofit civil rights organization was founded in 1971 and is based in Montgomery, Ala. It initially focused on the enforcement of civil rights laws in the South, but has expanded over time. The group has been a frequent target of attacks by conservative critics who claim the nonprofit is politically biased. U.S. District Judge Emily Marks declined to dismiss the case against the SPLC, ruling last week that the SPLC had failed to provide objective evidence to show that the group was being targeted by the Justice Department for exercising its First Amendment rights. Abbe Lowell, an attorney representing the SPLC, said the Beirich case is “as legally and factually flawed as their previous attacks” and reflected “a desperate government confronting a weak case, scrambling to make something – anything - stick as we approach trial.” The SPLC, Lowell said, “did not lie to donors, did not mislead the banks it did business with, and its informant program prevented violence and saved lives.”