The Justice Department has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on federal fraud charges related to a now-defunct program that paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups, alleging the organization misrepresented how it spent donor money. The indictment includes 11 counts including wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, with prosecutors claiming over $3 million was paid to informants without disclosure to donors or banks. The SPLC denies the allegations and says the Trump administration is targeting civil rights organizations. This is a significant escalation in the DOJ's scrutiny of civil rights groups, representing the kind of politicized prosecutions critics warned about under the second Trump administration.