Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) pressed the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Interim President and CEO Brian Fair on allegations of fraud in a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing.
SPLC Scandal Recap
The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in April for 11 counts of money laundering, bank fraud, and wire fraud. According to the indictment, the SPLC paid leading members of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacist groups to foment racism, which the Law Center disputes by saying they were sending in paid informants.
During Tuesday's hearing, Rep. Biggs focused on the existence of nine shell companies set up by the SPLC, allegedly as a means of laundering money, and how an unidentified individual known as "F9" fundraised for the National Alliance, a Neo-Nazi organization, while in a romantic relationship with the SPLC employee who oversaw payments to such hate groups.
Fair's Response
Fair, however, only gave a single answer to nearly every question: "All of those allegations in the indictment will be addressed in the Middle District of Alabama by SPLC's counsel."
"Well, I hope they address it," Rep. Biggs snapped back, adding, "because your employee shared a home with F9 and two bank accounts. Isn't that true? Did you know the person who was overseeing payments to 'field sources?'"
Fair claimed to not know the person, only for the Arizona congressman to press further, "So you did not know that the person who is in charge of overseeing payments to field sources, which you claim was a big, important program, you did not know that that individual was living with and sharing bank accounts with one of your clandestine sources?"
When also asked whether he knew about the relationship, Fair remained noncommittal, claiming not to know the "time period" being referred to.
"Well, in 2014, F9 broke into the headquarters of an organization, stole 25 boxes of documents, transported those across state lines, and he was paid money by that individual, and continued to receive money for 20 years in total," Biggs shared, adding, "receiving allegedly $1.2 million, and F9 is the one that was involved in the romantic relationship with your employee, and I want to know, are you telling us that you never knew about that relationship, even as you sit here today?"
