Former federal prosecutors see legal flaws in DOJ's SPLC indictment

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: msn/CBS News

12h


The Justice Department's indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center may contain serious legal defects that could lead to a full or partial dismissal because it struggles to articulate the elements of the alleged crimes, former federal prosecutors told CBS News.

The 11-count indictment alleges that the civil rights nonprofit organization, best known for its work to oppose the Ku Klux Klan, lied to donors about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceived banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments.

"Not a valid indictment"

Legal experts say it is not clear exactly how the SPLC's statements to donors represent material falsehoods or omissions, or why its past use of paid informants would run counter to its mission of dismantling white supremacist groups, a tactic that federal and local law enforcement also utilize to infiltrate and break up criminal organizations.

"I don't think any prosecutor with white-collar experience would look at this indictment and believe it makes out the elements of a crime," said Kyle Boynton, an attorney who previously worked both as a federal civil rights prosecutor and an FBI agent. "It's not a valid indictment."

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-federal-prosecutors-see-legal-flaws-in-dojs-splc-indictment/ar-AA21A0xM

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REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143654022
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143654305

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to "lie" on a bank loan form as far as

what you're going to do with the money, but . . . .

when is not being forthcoming about paying confidential informants to infiltrate hate groups and deceiving banks about the bank accounts used to make those payments a federal crime and/or not telling your donors what you're doing with their donations? It's not in the same league as gambling, drugs, or embezzlement.

Plus, there's "lying" and "not being forthcoming". If you're an organization like Southern Poverty Law, where your choices could inadvertently make people dead from the Klan and other groups, you don't advertise your MO.

[niyad]

2. "lying on bank loans". . . you mean, like krasnov has done his whole life?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Exactly like that.

[NJCher]

8. Who the hell has time

To “investigate” stuff like this?

How would you even think of it if you weren’t looking to cause certain organizations legal trouble?

[yardwork]

4. I've been a donor to SPLC for decades. They never lied to me.

I know they use the money to infiltrate bad guys, present law enforcement with the evidence, and win at trial.

That's been SPLC's model since the very beginning.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Ditto.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. I love the boomerang effect. The oft used words "witch hunt" come to mind here.

As do the words be careful what you wish for...

[NoMoreRepugs]

6. I stand with the ACLU and SPLC - period.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Abbe Lowell will be defending the SPLC

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. The Justice Department Sides With the Ku Klux Klan

The administration’s vindictive targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center is yet another mask-off moment.

The Justice Department Sides With the Ku Klux Klan

The administration’s vindictive targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center is yet another mask-off moment.

— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) 2026-04-24T15:42:01.876Z

https://newrepublic.com/article/209432/justice-department-klan-splc-suit

The United States did not always have a Department of Justice. President Ulysses S. Grant founded it in 1870 to help suppress the Ku Klux Klan in the Southern states and enforce federal civil rights protections for formerly enslaved Americans. On Tuesday, Justice Department officials announced what may be the first Klan-friendly prosecution in the department’s history.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, is one of the most influential civil rights groups in the nation. Founded in 1971, it has spent the last five decades monitoring, documenting, and exposing hate groups and violent extremists. The group rose to national fame in the 1980s by financially breaking the modern Klan through strategic lawsuits on behalf of its victims. The SPLC’s most persistent targets have been white nationalist groups like the Klan and various neo-Nazi gangs, but its work has expanded over the years, as well. (More on that later.)....

That brings us back to Blanche’s claims that the organization was “paying sources to stoke racial hatred.” A cynical observer might suspect that the Trump Justice Department’s goal is to blame the work of white nationalist groups on the civil rights groups that oppose them. There is a long history of Klan denialism in this country that minimizes the actions of violent white supremacists, often by blaming their actions on their victims and opponents.

It is horrifying to see the Justice Department, whose original mission was to fight the Klan, engage in similar denialism. At least some conservative commentators appear to be buying it too. “Given the small and marginal nature of these groups, the obvious conclusion is that the SPLC found that demand for racism outstripped the supply, so it had to spread cash around to keep talking up these fringe groups,” McLaughlin wrote.
.
In reality, there has been an alarming resurgence in white supremacist organizations since Trump first captured the presidency in 2016. White nationalist rhetoric, which was politically fatal 10 years ago, is now regularly espoused by Trump administration officials and even by official government publications. Now the Justice Department is throwing its full weight behind a flimsy prosecution in an effort to destroy one of the Klan’s greatest opponents. There is no subtlety about what is happening here.

[Grins]

11. "...not a valid indictment" has found a home in Trump's DoJ

They pull this crap out of Trump’s ass and think it’s gold.

And these are DoJ LAWYERS??? “All the best people“ is not ever not going to be hilarious.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. More than 3300 DOJ lawyers left since 45 came in

Trump Justice Department exodus hinders prosecutions, ex-officials say

Aysha Bagchi
USA TODAY
April 19, 2026 Updated April 20, 2026, 10:54 a.m. ET

(snip)

More than 3,300 attorneys left the Justice Department between Trump's first day back in office and February 2026, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Meanwhile, only about 800 attorneys have been hired.

(snip)

One might draw some conclusions...

[travelingthrulife]

13. What a surprise. The whole point is harassment and draining their coffers

to fight bogus charges.

[ck4829]

14. K&R