CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A federal indictment handed down Tuesday accuses the Southern Poverty Law Center of fraud in connection with its use of paid informants, charges that include references to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

But the attorney who led the investigation into the aftermath of that day’s violence expressed skepticism over the charges.

“I saw the reference to the informant who provided information about Unite the Right,” former U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy told Cville Right Now in an email. “I’m not sure who that is.”

Heaphy conducted an investigation with a team from Hunton & Williams in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally. Those findings are commonly referred to as the Heaphy report.

“I did see the SPLC indictment, which is outrageous and legally flawed,” Heaphy said. “It’s not unlawful to pay informants. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies do it themselves all the time. The theory is that paying informants who are members of white nationalist groups is inconsistent with their fundraising pitch to ‘fight white supremacy.’ That’s ridiculous, as paying informants generates useful intelligence and does, in fact, fight white supremacy.”

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche unveiled the 14-page indictment Tuesday in the Middle District of Alabama, where the SPLC’s Montgomery, AL headquarters is located, on “11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.”

In a Washington, D.C. press conference, Blanche said, “The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”

“Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked,” he said. “This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”

The indictment alleges the SPLC paid $3 million to informants between 2014 and 2023, “to individuals in violent extremist groups… to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes.”

One of those was an individual in the indictment known only as “F-37” described in the indictment, and in Blanche’s press conference, who “was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended the event at the direction of the SPLC.

The indictment said that F-37 made racist social media posts and helped organize transportation to events. Between 2015 and 2023, the SPLC secretly paid F-37 more than $270,000″ as an informant.

“The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups – even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal – and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”

The government alleges the SPLC opened a series of accounts at two banks under fictitious entities of Center Investigative Agency, Fox Photography, North West Technologies, Tech Writers Group and Rare Books Warehouse.

The indictment lists eight entities with whom the alleged informants were associated.

The most comprehensive list existing of organizers of Unite the Right was constructed by attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represented plaintiffs injured in the August 12, 2017 4th Street car attack in the Sines v. Kessler suit.

The indictment does not name the “F-37” informant alleged as an organizer of Unite the Right, nor with whom that individual is associated.

There were 25 defendants named in Sines v. Kessler, and the only matching organization name on the lists is National Socialist Movement.

Individuals’ names cannot be compared on the two lists as the government is not releasing names of the individual informants at this time.

Blanche said the investigation is continuing, so not all information can be made public.

“My reaction — as one who has contributed annually to the SPLC — is that this is a MAGA effort to undermine one of the most successful opponents of racism and racist organizations,” City Councilor Lloyd Snook wrote in an email to Cville Right Now. “The news that there were infiltrators into the leadership of the Unite the Right rally should not be surprising, and if doing this kind of intelligence gathering is a necessary step to shut down racist and Nazi groups, so be it.  Let’s look at the long view — these organizations are on the run, and the SPLC is part of the pack of hunting dogs.  I don’t have a problem with that.”

Kaplan did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Signer, who was mayor during the Unite the Right rally, did not respond to a request for comment. Current Mayor Juandiego Wade, who was not a member of City Council in 2017, declined comment.