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DOJ arrests former Southern Poverty Law Center CFO Heidi Beirich

Washington Examiner · back to the audit

By Kaelan Deese

The Justice Department on Wednesday made its first individual arrest in its fraud case against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging former Intelligence Project Director Heidi Beirich with helping to conceal donor-funded payments to informants embedded in white supremacist groups.

Beirich was arrested Wednesday in California, according to a person familiar with the arrest. The 26-page second superseding indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, where the broader case against the SPLC is pending.

"I believe she was part of the effort to open bank accounts in completely fictitious companies' names and make payments to individuals for reasons that were not accurate as described," Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a Wednesday news conference.