Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Inves­ti­gates South­ern Pover­ty Law Cen­ter for Fund­ing the Vio­lent Extrem­ist Groups That It Claimed to Oppose

Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC") over the organization's funding of certain violent extremist groups that it claimed to oppose.

The SPLC claims to oppose "hate groups" and protect certain individuals and ideologies from targeted discrimination and language. The SPLC monitors and labels a broad range of organizations as hate groups and claims to combat extremist activity.

In April 2026, SPLC was indicted on federal fraud charges for improperly raising millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan ("KKK") and other groups. President Trump's Department of Justice ("DOJ") has said that the group defrauded donors by using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting. This was done using more than $3 million that was paid to individuals associated with the groups. SPLC claims that this was done with the intent to obtain insider information although investigations have suggested that some of the money was used by extremists to carry out other crimes. Additionally, donors were not informed that their contributions could be used to financially support individuals affiliated with groups that SPLC claimed to be opposing.

"The radical, woke SPLC was funding the very groups it was claiming to oppose. My office will ensure that the organization is held accountable for its blatant deception," said Attorney General Paxton. "Donors of the SPLC deserve to know if they have been manipulated into supporting a non-profit that gives millions of dollars to the KKK and other groups that they thought they were opposing."

Attorney General Paxton is investigating the organization to determine the extent of deceptive donor solicitations and other violations of Texas law. As part of the investigation, the OAG has issued a Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") to the organization.