Experts who monitor far-right extremism have tracked a resurgence in California in recent years.<\/p>\n
There are nearly 100 \u201chate and anti-government\u201d groups in the state, including anti-vaxxers, doomsday prepper militias and old-school neo-Nazi outfits, according to the latest publicly available data from the Southern Poverty Law Center.<\/p>\n
For years, the Alabama-based nonprofit, also known as the SPLC, has been one of the few nongovernmental organizations paying close attention to California\u2019s fringe. But now, after the Trump administration\u2019s announcement of federal charges against the center for alleged fraud, it\u2019s unclear how its work will continue.<\/p>\n
Some are particularly concerned about California, long a hothouse for extremist groups. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese kinds of groups have deep tentacles in Southern California,\u201d said Peter Simi, a professor of sociology at Chapman University and an expert on hate groups in the state. \u201cYou had a substantial presence of white supremacist philosophy that goes back as far as white settlement of the area \u2014 it was kind of viewed it as a white supremacist utopia in some respects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Department of Justice claims the SPLC bilked donors by funneling cash to informants within hate groups. <\/p>\n
An April 21 indictment alleges a raft of crimes including \u201cwire fraud, making false statements to a federally insured banking institution, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.\u201d <\/p>\n
The case hinges on the Trump administration\u2019s claim that the law center misled donors about where their money was going. The organization had long worked to gather intelligence about extremist groups, but federal prosecutors say the SPLC did not properly disclose that it was paying active members to leak information.<\/p>\n
The indictment charges that \u201csome of the donated funds were to be used by the SPLC to pay high-level leaders of violent extremist groups and others,\u201d including payments that were allegedly \u201cused in the commission of state and federal crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n
This week, the legal advocacy organization hit back, demanding the court unseal grand jury transcripts \u2014 a highly unusual move it says will show the Justice Department lied or failed to present exculpatory evidence, including records of direct cooperation with the FBI to report crimes that the paid sources helped uncover.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Justice is well aware that the SPLC provided helpful information, through the use of its confidential informants, to law enforcement,\u201d attorney Addy R. Schmitt wrote in a motion to unseal the transcripts. \u201cThe Department of Justice also knows that these confidential informants helped law enforcement put violent extremists in jail.\u201d <\/p>\n
Legal experts called the indictment \u201cabsurd.\u201d <\/p>\n
This is \u201cjust another example of a larger trend of this administration doing everything it can to help the far right, including hate groups,\u201d said Eric J. Segall, a law professor at Georgia State University. <\/p>\n
Segall called it \u201cirresponsible and incredibly unlikely\u201d to suggest the nonprofit was working to benefit hate groups rather than expose their activities.<\/p>\n
Neither the Southern Poverty Law Center nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for comment. <\/p>\n
The fight has already tied up the advocacy group\u2019s finances: Financial firms Fidelity and Vanguard <\/a>told investors they would not make grants to the organization while federal charges remain pending, according to the New York Times, and the indictment all but ensures an expensive court battle. <\/p>\n The case also arrives at a moment when other bulwarks against violent extremism have been attenuated, with federal investigative resources redirected elsewhere under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \u201cThere used to be quite a few eyes on this,\u201d said Kathleen Blee, a professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. \u201cIt\u2019s not being watched very much anymore, and that\u2019s a really bad state of affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n