Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Southern Poverty Law Center Ran Covert Network While Denouncing the Same Groups Publicly

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Southern Poverty Law Center Ran Covert Network While Denouncing the Same Groups Publicly · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

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  Speaker 2: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
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  Speaker 3: Good Wednesday morning.
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  Speaker 4: Nice to have you with us on the forty seven
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  Speaker 4: Morning Update, and we've got one massive story for you
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  Speaker 4: this morning. The Justice Department has a nounced a sweeping
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  Speaker 4: indictment against a Southern poverty law center. The indictment alleges
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  Speaker 4: that they secretly funneled more than three million dollars in
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  Speaker 4: funds to members of white supremacists and extremist groups, all
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  Speaker 4: will claiming that's exactly who they were fighting. Every day,
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  Speaker 4: the switch Today. It's the forty seven Morning Update and
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  Speaker 4: it starts right now.
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  Speaker 2: Story number one.
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  Speaker 3: We've got major breaking news.
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  Speaker 4: The Department of Justice has now announced that the far
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  Speaker 4: left Southern Poverty Law Center was charged with fraud and
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  Speaker 4: money laundering involving violent extremists groups quote unquote. In a
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  Speaker 4: press release from the Office of Public Affairs for the DOJ,
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  Speaker 4: it was revealed that the Southern Poverty Law Center was
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  Speaker 4: charged by an Alabama grand jury with eleven counts of
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  Speaker 4: wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and
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  Speaker 4: conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. According to the press release,
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  Speaker 4: an indictment says that starting in the nineteen eighties, the
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  Speaker 4: Southern Property Law Center began operating a covert network of
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  Speaker 4: individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups
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  Speaker 4: such as the klu Klux Klan. To be clear, the
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  Speaker 4: indictment is saying that the Southern Poverty Law Center was
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  Speaker 4: associated with violent and extremist groups, including the klu Klux Klan.
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  Speaker 4: This is incredible now. According to the indictment, starting in
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  Speaker 4: the nineteen eighties, the Southern Property Law Center began operating
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  Speaker 4: a covert network of individuals who were either associated with
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  Speaker 4: violent and extremist groups such as the klu Klux Klan,
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  Speaker 4: or who had infiltrated violent extremist groups at the Southern
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  Speaker 4: Poverty Law Center's direction.
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  Speaker 3: Now, unbeknownst to.
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  Speaker 4: The donors, some of their donated money was being used
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  Speaker 4: to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups at
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  Speaker 4: the same time that the Southern Poverty Law Center was
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  Speaker 4: denouncing the same groups on its own website. That's just
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  Speaker 4: stealing money, folks. If you're giving money the klu Klux
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  Speaker 4: Klan while claiming you're fighting the klu Klux Klan, that's
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  Speaker 4: a massive fraud. Now, the Southern Poverty Law Center also
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  Speaker 4: allegedly funneled more than three million dollars donated funds to
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  Speaker 4: individuals who were associated with groups such as the National
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  Speaker 4: Socialist Movement, the United Clans of America, and the Aryan
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  Speaker 4: Nations affiliated Sadistic Soul's Motorcycle Club, all of this between
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  Speaker 4: twenty fourteen and twenty twenty three, according to the press release. Now,
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  Speaker 4: the Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement
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  Speaker 4: that the Southern Poverty Law Center is manufacturing racism to
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  Speaker 4: justify its existence as an organization, then saying this quote
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  Speaker 4: using donor money to allegedly profit off clansmen cannot go unchecked.
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  Speaker 4: In a post on Acts, the Federal Bureau of Investigations
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  Speaker 4: Director Cashptel shared that he and Blanche were announcing an
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  Speaker 4: eleven count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center this evening.
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  Speaker 4: Blanche and I are announcing it against the Southern Poverty
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  Speaker 4: Law Center. Charges include wire fraud, false statements to a
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  Speaker 4: federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
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  Speaker 4: The FBI director continued in a statement on saying the
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  Speaker 4: Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly engaged in a massive fraud
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  Speaker 4: operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their
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  Speaker 4: deceptive operations from the public. They lied to their donors
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  Speaker 4: vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around
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  Speaker 4: and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups, even
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  Speaker 4: utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission
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  Speaker 4: of state and federal crimes. That is illegal and this
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  Speaker 4: is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved now. Casprittel,
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  Speaker 4: after putting that out, also had to press conference of
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  Speaker 4: the Department of justice, and here is what he had
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  Speaker 4: to say, or here.
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  Speaker 5: Today is to announce what the what the General just
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  Speaker 5: told you. The Southern Popty Law Center, in a massive
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  Speaker 5: sweeping indictment, has been charged with allegations of fraud and
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  Speaker 5: using the banking system to perpetrate that fraud. I just
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  Speaker 5: want to talk about a couple of brief things here.
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  Speaker 5: The Southern Property Law Center themselves advertise to raise money
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  Speaker 5: to dismantle violent extremist groups for a period of at
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  Speaker 5: least a decade. They use their donor network to raise
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  Speaker 5: money to purportedly dismantle violent extremist groups. However, the SPLC,
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  Speaker 5: the Southern Property Law Center used the money they raised
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  Speaker 5: from their donor network to actually pay the leadership of
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  Speaker 5: these very groups. I just want to say that again,
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  Speaker 5: they use the fraudulently raised money by lying to their
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  Speaker 5: donor network thousands of Americans to go ahead and actually
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  Speaker 5: pay the leadership of these supposed violent extremist groups. The groups,
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  Speaker 5: as the General laid out, include the Ku Klux Klan,
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  Speaker 5: the United Clans of America Unite to Write National Alliance,
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  Speaker 5: the National Socialist Movement, the Aryan Nation Motorcycle Club, and
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  Speaker 5: the National Socialist Party of America and also the American
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  Speaker 5: Front and at least one of these matters. Our investigation
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  Speaker 5: revealed that funds were used to facilitate the commission of
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  Speaker 5: further state and federal offenses, totaling over three million dollars. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 5: our investigation revealed that the Southern Poverty Law Center, on
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  Speaker 5: top of perpetuating this widespread, decade long, multi million dollar fraud,
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  Speaker 5: conducted more criminal activity. They attempted to hide their criminal
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  Speaker 5: activity from our financial banking network. They set up shell
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  Speaker 5: companies and entities around America so that the financial institutions
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  Speaker 5: that we rely on as everyday Americans were deceived in
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  Speaker 5: believing that money was not coming from the Southern Poverty
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  Speaker 5: Law Center in the perpetration of this scheme and fraud,
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  Speaker 5: but rather fictitious entities they stood up to perpetuate this
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  Speaker 5: ongoing fraud. This is a serious and egregious violation of
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  Speaker 5: a group that purported to dismantle violent extremists groups, but
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  Speaker 5: in turn actually only fueled the hatred. This is an
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  Speaker 5: important case brought by the President. By President Trump's administration,
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  Speaker 5: We're thankful for the present for his leadership and funding
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  Speaker 5: of not just the FBI and DOJ, but his commitment
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  Speaker 5: to go out there and wipe out fraud and conspiracy
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  Speaker 5: and waste and abuse wherever it occurs, including the Southern
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  Speaker 5: Poverty Law Center. Even though this money was made to
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  Speaker 5: appear to be coming from legitimate people and legitimate entities,
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  Speaker 5: we at the FBI, with our great partners at the
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  Speaker 5: Department of Justice and in the State of Alabama, were
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  Speaker 5: able to comb through a decade worth of material, a
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  Speaker 5: scheme that took a decade to build, so that we
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  Speaker 5: were able to follow the money because money never lies,
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  Speaker 5: and they got caught. As the Attorney General said, these
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  Speaker 5: charges are varying, they are widespread and wide ranging, and
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  Speaker 5: this investigation is very much ongoing. Today we're here to
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  Speaker 5: announce the charges of the Southern Poverty Law Center and
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  Speaker 5: this investigation and the individuals were responsible will be brought
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  Speaker 5: to justice.
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  Speaker 4: The most shocking thing about what Cashpottel said there is
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  Speaker 4: not only did they seek g really funneled three million
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  Speaker 4: in donor funds to violent racist extremist groups including literally
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  Speaker 4: the klu Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, the Area Nation,
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  Speaker 4: the United Clans of America Unite, the Right, National Alliance,
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  Speaker 4: National Socialist Movement, Sadistic Souls, Motorcycle Club, and America Front,
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  Speaker 4: just to name a few.
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  Speaker 3: But they knew what they were doing.
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  Speaker 4: And how do you know that because to hide the payments,
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  Speaker 4: the Southern Poverty Law Center allegedly open bank accounts under
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  Speaker 4: fictitious entities, as it was described there in the press conference.
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  Speaker 3: Why would you do that? One reason?
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  Speaker 4: You want to conceal the source and control of the
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  Speaker 4: donor funds. And that's what they did, and per the indictment,
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  Speaker 4: the Southern Poverty Law Center Field Source was a member
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  Speaker 4: of the online leadership chat group that planned the twenty
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  Speaker 4: seventeen Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. They made racist
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  Speaker 4: postings under Southern Poverty Law Centered supervision and helped coordinate
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  Speaker 4: transportation to that event. The FBI director saying, not only
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  Speaker 4: do they lie their donors vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups,
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  Speaker 4: and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these
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  Speaker 4: very extremist groups, even utilizing the funds to have these
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  Speaker 4: groups facilitate the Commission of State and Federal Crimes. Todd
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  Speaker 4: Blanche in the indictment, he had this to say at
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  Speaker 4: the Department of Justice.
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  Speaker 6: Now as the indictment lays out, after SBLC paid members
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  Speaker 6: of these extremist groups, it created work product that reported
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  Speaker 6: on these activities that the members participated in or contributed to,
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  Speaker 6: and to that end, it was doing the exact opposite
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  Speaker 6: of what it's told its donors. It was doing not
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  Speaker 6: dismantling extremism, but funding it. To carry out this scheme,
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  Speaker 6: SPLC created bank accounts in the name of at least
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  Speaker 6: five completely fictitious organizations that had no bona fide employees
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  Speaker 6: or legitimate business purpose. The money was passed from SPLC
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  Speaker 6: to one sham account, to a second sham account, and
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  Speaker 6: then loaded onto prepaid cards to give to the members
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  Speaker 6: of the extremist groups. This was designed to shield the
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  Speaker 6: source of those funds, and because of this, SPLC is
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  Speaker 6: also charged with one count, as I said earlier, of
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  Speaker 6: conspiracy to commit money laundering. In conclusion, I want to
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  Speaker 6: thank the acting US Attorney in the Middle disc of Alabama,
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  Speaker 6: Kevin Davidson, who's in his district right now and not
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  Speaker 6: able to be with us, for bringing this important case,
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  Speaker 6: along with the FBI team in Alabama for their hard
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  Speaker 6: work during this investigation. This investigation is ongoing.
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  Speaker 4: This is truly a bombshell. It'll be very interesting to
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  Speaker 4: see what else comes out in this ongoing investigation. The
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  Speaker 4: one thing that is for sure, the people that are
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  Speaker 4: doing things like this you're on notice because the Trump
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  Speaker 4: administration and the men and women in charge of the
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  Speaker 4: DOJ and the FBI, they're doing their job rooting out
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  Speaker 4: this type of corruption.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
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  Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
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  Speaker 2: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
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  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow