SPLC’s tax exempt status under scrutiny as congressman accuses group of 'act of fraud'

EXCLUSIVE — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is being asked to strip the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of its tax-exempt status, after a Republican congressman alleged their funding of extremist groups is "an act of fraud."

The plea from Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., makes the case that while raking in millions under the guise of fighting hate, the SPLC showed a clear pattern of targeting conservatives on its infamous "Hate Map" while funding the activities of actual extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, as alleged in a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment.

"The SPLC has reached a point where it's become extremely obvious that they are certainly not the organization anymore that they were maybe even founded to be, but they've become a strong left-wing political organization that is really just funding groups that most Americans are absolutely and would be absolutely appalled to know," Harris told Fox News Digital in a Wednesday interview.

The lawmaker's letter to Bessent establishes that a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization "must be organized and operated primarily for charitable, educational, or similar purposes and cannot engage in political activity," and explains why he thinks the SPLC is bucking that law.

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"[T]he SPLC has consistently engaged in the partisan targeting of conservative groups by placing them on its so-called 'hate map,' alongside organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood," the letter notes.

"Meanwhile, violent left-wing groups such as Antifa and Jane’s Revenge have been widely ignored by the self-described civil rights organization."

Harris, a pastor, referenced a major Biden-era scandal — the DOJ's monitoring of what it called "radical traditionalist Catholics." — in a  House Judiciary hearing in the spring. The Biden administration allegedly used the SPLC's guidance to justify the monitoring.

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The Alabama-based nonprofit also lumped mainstream Christian groups, like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom, into its "Hate Map."

And in 2012, crazed gunman Floyd Lee Corkins II attacked the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., and shot a security guard after he found out they were designated as an anti-LGBT organization on the SPLC's website.

"I mean, we could go on and on and list those groups, but they all have in common that they happen to be just conservative groups in this country that stand on conservative principles," Harris told Fox News Digital.

The North Carolina representative also tore into the SPLC over allegations the group funneled $4 million donor dollars into shell companies to fund the KKK and other extremist organizations, all while claiming to fight hate.

Harris claimed in his letter to Bessent this was "an act of fraud" rather than charity, and needs to be addressed as such.

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"Through what we're learning in this indictment by the Department of Justice that even points out how this $4 million has been misused or used, that one example was that they actually funded a Ku Klux Klan rally and funded the cross burning and paid for the gas to burn the cross," he said.

He accused the SPLC of creating the racism it claimed to fight.

Harris referenced claims from this week's congressional hearing that the SPLC saw a spike in contributions after the deadly 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The group is accused of paying an informant to help plan the rally.

"That's the way these groups work because, again, it becomes a money-making machine," said Harris. "If they can keep things stirred up, if they keep things with people fighting, if they could keep people divided ... then they accomplish what they want to accomplish, which at the end of the day, is all about the almighty dollar."

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Harris' letter concluded: "The evidence is clear: the SPLC does not operate as a charitable organization and should therefore lose its tax-exempt status. I respectfully ask that you direct the IRS to examine the SPLC’s Section 501(c)(3) status and take appropriate action to revoke their tax-exempt status."

The SPLC has denied the DOJ's allegations.

The group did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.