Far-Left SPLC’s Donors Include George Clooney, Tim Cook, George Soros, and Chick-Fil-A

The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has received funding from individuals including George Clooney and George Soros and businesses such as Chick-Fil-A, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

The news comes after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday said it charged the SPLC with fraud and money laundering linked to “violent extremist groups,” according to Breitbart News.

The SPLC is accused of funneling money to hate groups it claimed to fight against, receiving donations for years from big name donors, “many of whom pledged to the organization after clashes at a 2017 by ‘Unite the Right’ white supremacist rally in Virginia, which resulted in the death of one protester,” the Post article read. The outlet said some of the donors reportedly did not know the group was shifting money to one of the individuals involved in organizing that rally.

According to the Post, the group’s donors include George Clooney, JPMorgan, and former Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with leftwing billionaire George Soros. The outlet said Chick-fil-A also made small-scale donations to the group.

Indeed, Fox Business reported in 2019 that Chick-fil-A had distanced itself from its donation to the far-left group after receiving criticism.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel on Tuesday announced the 11 count indictment against the SPLC, noting charges included wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering:

“The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public. They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups — even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal — and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved,” he wrote:

The SPLC has denied the claims, arguing it used sources inside hate groups to gather intelligence and work to dismantle them from within.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday criticized the SPLC, stating, “I think that’s a story that should be on the front page of every newspaper in this country because they’ve obviously been duping their supporters and the American taxpayers for far too long.”

“It’s a criminal organization, clearly, and that’s not our DOJ saying that, or Todd Blanche saying that, that’s a grand jury indictment saying that,” she added.