Heidi Beirich arrested over alleged SPLC fund misuse

Heidi Beirich, the former head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Intelligence Project, has been arrested by the Department of Justice. Beirich faces charges including wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment of money laundering.

Prosecutors allege that Beirich oversaw the misuse of donor funds by funneling money to informants used to infiltrate white supremacist groups. Specifically, the indictment claims Beirich was romantically involved with one such informant and that the pair shared a bank account containing approximately $140,000 in funds derived from SPLC payments. The informant in question reportedly received more than $1 million in total from the organization.