Extremism expert charged in case targeting Southern Poverty Law Center’s use of informants

“A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents,” Heidi Beirich’s attorney said in a statement.

A former official at the Southern Poverty Law Center faces federal charges in connection with a case the Justice Department brought over the way the organization made payments to informants who provided details about extremist organizations.

Heidi Beirich has been charged in federal court in Montgomery, Alabama, her attorney said. Attorney General Todd Blanche said at an unrelated news conference that the case involved allegations that Beirich “was part of the effort to open bank accounts in completely fictitious companies’ names and make payments to individuals for reasons that were not accurate as described.” CNN first reported on the charges against Beirich.

“A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents,” Beirich attorney Michael J. Proctor said in a statement. “Heidi Beirich has dedicated her life to fighting hate groups and extremist movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists. She has combatted these hateful, ugly, and un-American extremists and their repeated uses of violence and intimidation in order to promote a fairer, safer, and more just America. Her decades-long record of success dismantling hate groups—and the resulting threats to her life—speak volumes. For this, she has been indicted.”

Beirich is the former head of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The indictment alleges that she “was in a romantic relationship” with an informant who infiltrated the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization, and was paid more than $1.2 million over several years.

The charges were a part of the Justice Department’s effort to prosecute the nonprofit group over the alleged payments, which prosecutors say were made through shell companies, without donors’ knowledge.