WASHINGTON, D.C. (Michigan News Source) – The scrutiny surrounding Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson is intensifying after a newly expanded federal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) renewed questions regarding what she knew during her 2014-2018 tenure on its board.
The Klan, Aryan Nations, and the National Alliance.
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) latest indictment expands the initial one filed in April. That’s when a federal grand jury in Alabama issued an 11-count indictment against the SPLC which included six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank, and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Tuesday’s indictment filed in the Middle District of Alabama alleges, “Unbeknowst to donors, some of their donated money [to the SPLC] was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the National Alliance.”
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One of the bombshell accusations involves two Klan members identified as F-31 and F-32 in the indictment. It alleges these members feared for their safety and wanted out of the group in 2010. Instead, prosecutors alleged the SPLC paid them $1,200 per month plus expenses to remain in the Klan. The indictment lays out that some of that paid for white robes associated with the Klan.
Purchasing cross-burning material.
In addition, the expanded indictment accuses “field sources” the SPLC paid as informants helped to keep the ball rolling. They are accused of attending and hosting extremist rallies, creating new chapters, growing existing chapters, recruiting new members, donating to extremist leaders, purchasing cross-burning material, creating racist paraphernalia, and paying living expenses.
Last week at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Benson described her position on the SPLC board as “mostly ceremonial.” In a statement to The Detroit News, Benson claimed she is not aware of what is in the federal indictment alleges. However, in her 2025 memoir The Purposeful Warrior, Benson describes a working role at the SPLC in the late 1990s. She wrote, “just shy of twenty years old, posing as a freelance journalist, meeting with leaders and members of hate groups to gather information on their activities and plans.”
That statement may not be the end of it. The Michigan House approved a resolution demanding that Benson publicly address her role at the SPLC and release relevant information.
