MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) — New details are emerging in a legal case against the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, as Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall discussed the investigation in an exclusive interview with Action 8 News.
A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday charges the organization with 11 counts of fraud, alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars and secretly paid leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information. Marshall said his office was part of a coalition that evaluated and investigated the allegations.
“We’re very familiar with the allegations because we were involved with the team early on that was initiating this investigation,” Marshall said. He added that federal authorities were best positioned to pursue the case, citing statutes involving corporate criminal liability, as well as mail and wire fraud. Marshall said his office worked alongside federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Postal Service, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle District of Alabama…