Jocelyn Benson, KKK Funding, SPLC Indictment: Board Member Turned Governor Candidate Faces Mounting Scandals

A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on April 21 on eleven counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors allege the civil rights organization secretly funneled more than $3 million in donor funds to individuals connected to the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, the National Socialist Movement, United Klans of America, the National Alliance, American Front, and a key organizer of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, now the leading Democratic candidate for governor, served on the SPLC's board of directors from 2014 through early 2019. Her entire board tenure falls within the 2014 to 2023 window of alleged criminal activity outlined in the federal indictment.

Benson has not issued a public statement regarding the charges. Her office did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the Department of Justice, the SPLC opened bank accounts tied to fictitious entities to disguise the payments, defrauding donors who believed their contributions would fund civil rights work. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the charges alongside DOJ officials. The SPLC has said it "will vigorously defend" itself and that its informant program "saved lives."

Benson's connection to the SPLC runs deeper than board service. By her own account, she worked at the organization in the late 1990s as part of its Intelligence Project, posing as a freelance journalist to infiltrate neo-Nazi groups in South Carolina. She has publicly touted her SPLC experience throughout her political career.

Discrimination Inside Her Own Department

The federal indictment arrives as Benson's office continues to face allegations of racial discrimination from within.

In 2024, the Michigan Department of State quietly settled a complaint with former bureau director Angela Harness for $775,000. Harness, who oversaw 1,100 employees, alleged that Benson's chief of staff Christina Anderson stripped her authority and responsibilities after she hired African American staff and protested their discriminatory treatment.

Three months ago, four Black employees filed a lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court alleging the Department of State maintains a "racially hostile environment" under Benson's leadership. The complaint, brought by current employees David Murray, Elvine VanBolden, and Mychael Foster, along with former employee Nirva Civilus, cites violations of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. They allege a "pattern and practice" of discriminatory rules and guidelines targeting Black staff. Benson's office called the allegations "absolutely false."

A third discrimination complaint against the department was reported by The Midwesterner in January 2026.

The discrimination claims contrast sharply with Benson's public image. In March 2025, she walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the same period a third discrimination complaint was being prepared against her department.

A Settlement She Championed, Then Left Behind

Benson's record faces additional scrutiny on the policy front.

In February 2020, Michigan settled Fowler v. Johnson, a federal lawsuit challenging the state's practice of suspending driver's licenses for unpaid court debt without confirming whether drivers could afford to pay. The settlement required all Michigan courts to notify defendants of their right to request a payment alternative based on financial hardship, with full implementation due by February 2021.

Benson publicly championed the agreement. "I am proud that we are working to stop penalizing poverty," she said at the time, describing a "disconnect of logic" in the law.

But five years after that settlement, questions remain about whether the reforms were fully implemented. An investigation by Michigan Capitol Press found that multiple courts across the state continued to suspend licenses without confirming that required ability-to-pay hearings took place, raising concerns that the promise Benson made to Michigan's most vulnerable drivers was never kept.

The Road to the Governor's Mansion

Benson currently leads the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 52 percent support in an Emerson College poll conducted April 11-13, well ahead of Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. In a general election matchup, polling shows a virtual tie between Benson and Republican U.S. Rep. John James.

Michigan GOP has already seized on the SPLC connection, posting on X: "Jocelyn Benson regularly touted her experience as a leader of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that the Department of Justice says secretly funneled money to the KKK and other hate groups."

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan has demanded SPLC documents following the indictment, widening the federal spotlight on the organization and anyone connected to its leadership during the period in question.

The question facing Michigan voters is whether a candidate who served on the board of an organization now indicted for funding the Ku Klux Klan, while settling three-quarters of a million dollars in racial discrimination claims within her own department, can withstand the scrutiny of a general election.

Benson has not addressed any of these matters publicly.