Ex-SPLC finance chief arrested in alleged $4.1 million fraud scheme
What's new: Prosecutors alleged donor funds were routed to informants inside hate groups from 2007 to 2023.
Federal prosecutors arrested former Southern Poverty Law Center finance chief Heidi Beirich in California on Wednesday and added her to a widening criminal case accusing the SPLC of steering donor money through outside bank accounts and shell companies. A superseding indictment filed in Alabama charged Beirich with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealed money laundering. Prosecutors alleged at least $4.1 million in tax-exempt donations was funneled between 2007 and 2023 to field sources tied to extremist groups, including money used for rallies, recruitment and materials for Ku Klux Klan robes and cross burnings.