FIRST ON FOX: Before federal charges put ex-Southern Poverty Law Center official Heidi Beirich at the center of efforts to allegedly pay White supremacist informants, the left-wing Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted and praised her as an expert on extremism in the U.S. during a 2018 event.
Neera Tanden, the CEO of CAP and a longtime Democratic operative who has worked for multiple Democratic presidents, including former President Joe Biden, described Beirich as among the "terrific leaders who are dedicating themselves to fighting the spread of extremism and speech online."
The praise, however, took on a new light on Wednesday as reports emerged that Beirich is now facing charges of wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.
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One of the most explosive allegations centers on a source identified as "F-9," whom prosecutors say infiltrated the neo-Nazi National Alliance and received more than $1.2 million from the SPLC during the period covered by the indictment. Prosecutors allege Beirich oversaw payments to F-9 while also having a romantic relationship with him, with the pair sharing a home and two bank accounts.
Other figures at CAP in 2018 praised Beirich for her detailed work with hate groups, including Henry Fernandez, then a senior fellow with CAP. He described the effort as "the leading organization that identifies hate groups in the country."
"She is really probably the nation’s foremost expert on various forms of extremism, including the white supremacist, nativist and neo-confederate movements as well as racism in academia," Fernandez said.
"Even if you don’t know who Heidi Beirich is, you actually do because she leads the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which publishes the award-winning intelligence report," he continued. "They’re the leading organization that identifies what hate groups in the country are."
Beirich was arrested by authorities in California on Wednesday.
Her arrest fits into a larger case involving the SPLC that began in April. A 22-page indictment stated that the group allegedly was funneling money to hate groups.
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"Unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation and the National Alliance," the filing reads.
"The SPLC's paid informants ('field sources') engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website."
In particular, prosecutors allege donor money was used to attend and host extremist rallies, recruit members, grow and create extremist chapters, publish extremist literature and buy materials for KKK robes, hoods and cross burnings. The indictment also alleges two KKK members who wanted out of the movement were encouraged by the SPLC to remain and offered monthly payments and expenses.
Now, prosecutors are alleging that it was Beirich who had a hand in making those payments, overseeing the organization’s efforts to track the groups.
Beirich's representation has argued that the allegations are a misunderstanding of her work tracking hate groups.
Beirich originally joined the SPLC in 1999, working as a senior writer and then climbing her way to become deputy director, co-director and finally director in 2012. She would leave the group in 2019 to launch the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
In her roles, she helped direct research, supervised publications of the group’s Intelligence Report and Hatewatch and was featured in a wide range of media appearances.
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Representatives from CAP did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they would continue working with Beirich in the future or when the last time was that she had partnered with the group.
Fox News' Jasmine Baehr contributed reporting