2026年8月12日 美国东部时间下午3:52 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者
雅各布·罗森 司法部记者
杰克·罗森是一名报道美国司法部的记者。他此前曾是负责报道特朗普总统2024年竞选活动的竞选数字记者，还曾担任《与玛格丽特·布伦南会面》节目的助理制片人。
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根据周三公开的法庭文件，南部贫困法律中心前高管海蒂·贝里奇因被控参与一项政府所称的诈骗计划而在补充起诉书中被起诉，该计划涉嫌欺骗捐赠者和银行。
法庭文件显示，检察官指控南部贫困法律中心告诉捐赠者和银行，该组织正在解散白人至上主义和极端主义团体，但实际上却将款项支付给这些团体中的线人，以资助“暴力、种族主义和极端主义活动”。
这项新的起诉标志着与这家民权非营利组织有关的个人首次在这起案件中被起诉，美国司法部于今年4月宣布了这起案件。
起诉书中指控贝里奇犯有电信欺诈、银行欺诈和洗钱罪，并声称她负责向线人支付款项，其中包括一名与她有“恋爱关系”的线人。
起诉书称，在与这名线人恋爱期间，二人共用一处住宅和两个银行账户，2015年至2021年间，南部贫困法律中心运营的账户向这些联名账户汇入了14万美元。起诉书显示，她涉嫌挪用部分资金用于个人生活开支。
在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时，贝里奇的律师迈克尔·J·普罗克特表示，他的当事人是无辜的，并补充道：“这起案件毫无根据。”
“我们认为对她和南部贫困法律中心的指控带有政治动机，贝里奇博士因为她在打击仇恨团体和极端主义方面所做的重要工作而成为这起案件的目标，”普罗克特说，“在南部贫困法律中心工作期间以及离职后的六年半时间里，暴力极端分子从未阻止或恐吓过贝里奇博士开展重要工作。如今，政府的虚假和政治化指控也不会让贝里奇博士保持沉默或被吓倒。”
根据案件日程表，贝里奇的传讯听证会定于8月19日举行。
美国有线电视新闻网率先报道了她的被捕消息。
南部贫困法律中心面临11项电信欺诈、银行欺诈和洗钱共谋的指控，检察官称该组织通过创建空壳账户，将资金转移给与其承诺解散的仇恨团体成员相同的内部人员，从而欺骗捐赠者并误导银行。
南部贫困法律中心对今年4月提出的指控拒不认罪。
根据贝里奇的领英资料，她此前曾担任南部贫困法律中心情报项目主任，该项目是该非营利组织的监测和研究部门。她从1999年以撰稿人身份入职，一步步晋升，于2019年12月离开南部贫困法律中心。
贝里奇并非美国司法部最初调查的目标，该调查于2018年杰夫·塞申斯担任司法部长期间启动。据哥伦比亚广播公司此前报道，当时联邦调查局对南部贫困法律中心的首席财务官展开初步调查，怀疑她从该非营利组织挪用资金。
2019年，在比尔·巴尔担任司法部长期间，调查范围扩大到可能存在的税务指控，调查重点转向南部贫困法律中心的银行账户及其向线人的付款。当时的首席财务官掌控着这些账户，也是调查的对象之一。
最终，这起案件并未提起税务指控，截至目前，那位前首席财务官未受到刑事指控。在调查过程中，美国国税局的特工发现，这位首席财务官在至少几名银行员工的协助下创建了空壳银行账户。
在周三的新闻发布会上，司法部长托德·布兰奇误将贝里奇称为南部贫困法律中心的“前首席财务官”。
“正如起诉书中所指控的那样，我认为这名个人参与了该计划，”他说，“我相信她参与了开设银行账户……以及以与此前描述不符的理由向个人支付款项的行动，”他在起诉书公开于公众案卷之前说道。
本月早些时候，一名联邦法官驳回了南部贫困法律中心要求驳回对该组织起诉的动议，理由是报复性起诉，法官认为该组织的律师“未能提供一些证据表明参与提起这起案件的检察官存在恶意”。
法律专家此前曾表示，他们认为这起案件存在诸多潜在的法律缺陷，并指出从起诉书中的措辞无法明确看出捐赠者确实被误导，或是银行因欺诈而被误导采取了某些行动。
在这起刑事案件中为南部贫困法律中心辩护的阿贝·洛厄尔周三在一份声明中表示，特朗普政府对贝里奇的攻击“与他们之前的攻击一样，在法律和事实上都站不住脚”。
“这起指控反映出政府在审判临近之际，面对薄弱的案件孤注一掷，试图让任何——任何——指控成立，”他说。
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/justice-department-charges-southern-poverty-law-center-fraud-extremism-investigations/
U.S. indicts former SPLC executive in alleged fraud scheme to funnel donations to white supremacist groups
August 12, 2026 3:52 PM EDT / CBS News
By
Jacob Rosen Justice Department Reporter
Jake Rosen is a reporter covering the Department of Justice. He was previously a campaign digital reporter covering President Trump’s 2024 campaign and also served as an associate producer for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
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Heidi Beirich, a former executive at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been charged in a superseding indictment for her alleged role in what the government claims was a fraudulent scheme that duped donors and banks, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
Prosecutors have accused the SPLC of telling donors and banks the group was dismantling white supremacist and extremist groups, but instead funneling payments to confidential informants in the groups to fund “violent, racist and extremist activities,” court documents said.
The new indictment marks the first time that an individual connected with the civil rights nonprofit has been charged in the case, which the Justice Department announced in April.
The indictment charges Beirich with wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering, and alleges that she oversaw payments to informants, including one with whom she had a “romantic relationship.”
During that alleged relationship with the informant, the indictment says they shared a home and two bank accounts, through which $140,000 flowed from an SPLC-operated account into their joint accounts between 2015 and 2021. She allegedly used some of the funds to pay for personal living expenses, according to the indictment.
In a statement to CBS News, Beirich’s lawyer Michael J. Proctor said that his client is innocent, adding, “this case is without merit.”
“We believe the charges against her and the SPLC are politically motivated, and Dr. Beirich has been targeted in this case because of the important work she has done to combat hate groups and extremists,” Proctor said, adding, “Violent extremists have not stopped or intimidated Dr. Beirich from her vital work during her time at the SPLC or in the six and a half years after she left the SPLC. Dr. Beirich won’t be silenced or intimidated by the government’s false and politicized allegations now.”
Beirich’s arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 19, according to the case docket.
CNN first reported her arrest.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is facing 11 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, with prosecutors alleging it defrauded its donors and duped its banks by creating shell accounts to funnel money to insiders who belonged to the same hate groups it pledged to dismantle.
The Southern Poverty Law Center pleaded not guilty to the charges filed in April.
Beirich previously served as the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which is the monitoring and research arm of the nonprofit, according to her LinkedIn profile. She rose through the ranks, starting first as a writer in 1999. She left the SPLC in December 2019.
Beirich was not the target of the Justice Department’s original probe, which started in 2018 while Jeff Sessions was attorney general. At the time, the FBI launched a preliminary inquiry into SPLC’s chief financial officer under suspicion she was embezzling money from the nonprofit, CBS previously reported.
The case was expanded to investigate possible tax charges in 2019 under Attorney General Bill Barr, with the focus shifting to the SPLC’s bank accounts and its payments to informants. The CFO at the time controlled those accounts and was part of the probe.
Ultimately tax charges were never filed in the case and to date, that former CFO has not been criminally charged. During the course of the investigation, IRS agents found that the CFO had created the shell bank accounts with assistance from at least some of the bank employees.
At a press conference Wednesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche mistakenly identified Beirich as the SPLC’s “former CFO.”
“I think, as alleged in the indictment, this individual participated in the scheme,” he said. “I believe she was part of the effort to open bank accounts… and make payments to individuals for reasons that were not accurate as described,” he said, before the indictment was available on the public docket.
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied the SPLC’s motion to dismiss the indictment against the group on the grounds of a vindictive prosecution, finding that lawyers for the group “failed to offer some evidence tending to show animus on the part of the prosecutors involved in bringing this case.”
Legal experts have previously said they believe the case contains a number of potential legal defects, noting it is not clear from the language in the indictment itself that donors had in fact been misled or that banks were deceived into taking certain actions due to fraud.
Abbe Lowell, who is defending the SPLC in the criminal case, said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration’s attacks on Beirich are “as legally and factually flawed as their previous attacks.”
“This charge reflects a desperate government confronting a weak case, scrambling to make something — anything — stick as we approach trial,” he said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/justice-department-charges-southern-poverty-law-center-fraud-extremism-investigations/
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