'About 60 Organizations' Consider Lawsuits Against the SPLC Following $3M Nawaz Settlement

No fewer than 60 organizations branded "hate groups" or otherwise attacked by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are considering legal action against the left-wing smear factory, a Christian legal nonprofit leader confirmed to PJ Media on Tuesday. He suggested that the $3 million settlement and apology the SPLC gave to Maajid Nawaz and his Quilliam Foundation on Monday would encourage further legal action.

"We haven't filed anything against the SPLC, but I think a number of organizations have been considering filing lawsuits against the SPLC, because they have been doing to a lot of organizations exactly what they did to Maajid Nawaz that's part of the settlement," Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, told PJ Media on Tuesday.

Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against the charity navigation organization GuideStar for defamation, after GuideStar adopted the SPLC's "hate group" list. That lawsuit is ongoing.

In 2016, the SPLC published its "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists," listing Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, a practicing Muslim, as one such extremist. The left-wing group listed various reasons for including him, changing the reasons every so often, and even at one point mentioning that he had gone to a strip club for his bachelor party.

On Monday, SPLC President Richard Cohen extended his group's "sincerest apologies to Mr. Nawaz, Quilliam, and our readers for the error, and we wish Mr. Nawaz and Quilliam all the best." In settling the suit, the SPLC paid Nawaz's organization $3.375 million.

"This is a significant settlement," Staver told PJ Media. "3.375 million dollars, and it did not even go to litigation; it was a result of a demand letter."

Importantly, "the allegations that were at issue here were very similar to the allegations against the other groups," the Liberty Counsel chairman explained. "The SPLC promotes false propaganda, demonizes and labels groups they disagree with, and that labeling has economic as well as physical consequences." SPONSORED

The SPLC started as a group to oppose racist terrorism, and its first legal action targeted the Ku Klux Klan. In recent decades, the organization has begun marking mainstream organizations as "hate groups" on par with the KKK. Last year, 47 nonprofit leaders denounced the SPLC's "hate list" in an open letter to the media. The SPLC has admitted that its "hate group" list is based on "opinion." Staver insisted that the settlement with Nawaz "will encourage further legal action." He suggested that the settlement "helps our lawsuit against GuideStar" and may encourage organizations that were considering suing the SPLC to actually file the paperwork.

"There are probably about 60 organizations that we're talking to — there's at least 60," Staver told PJ Media. He mentioned the group of 47 nonprofit leaders who denounced the SPLC last year, and said "that group has grown since then."

Furthermore, many of the "hate groups" attacked by the SPLC do not encourage hate or violence, but merely disagree with the left-wing organization's political views. Many — like the Family Research Council (FRC), the Ruth Institute, and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — merely stand for marriage as between one man and one woman. The SPLC has twisted 30-year-old arguments to smear these groups, and in one egregious case the group actually quoted as hateful The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Other organizations attacked by the SPLC also told PJ Media they are "considering their options" regarding a lawsuit."Truthfully, I have not been following the activities of the SPLC too closely," Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute, an organization that lost its credit card processor, Vanco Payments, over the SPLC's "hate group" labeling last year, told PJ Media.

"Pursuing our mission is more important than attempting to take on the behemoth of the SPLC.""I must say, though, this apology to Mr. Nawaz has caused us to consider our options," Morse added, cryptically."We are reviewing all our legal options," J.P. Duffy, a spokesman for the Family Research Council, told PJ Media on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Prager University, another organization attacked by the SPLC, said that "at this point" the group had "no intention to sue," but they "reserve the right to change their mind as the situation evolves."

Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), echoed this trend, saying his organization is "evaluating all our options," including a potential lawsuit."It's appalling and offensive for the Southern Poverty Law Center to compare peaceful organizations which condemn violence and racism with violent and racist groups just because it disagrees with their views," Tedesco told PJ Media. "That's what SPLC did in the case of Quilliam and its founder Maajid Nawaz, and that's what it has done with ADF and numerous other organizations and individuals."

"This situation confirms once again what commentators across the political spectrum have been saying for decades: SPLC has become a far-left organization that brands its political opponents as 'haters' and 'extremists' and has lost all credibility as a civil rights watchdog," the ADF senior counsel added. Tedesco defended the good name of Alliance Defending Freedom, which SPLC falsely maligns as a "hate group."

"With eight wins in the last seven years at the U.S. Supreme Court and hundreds of victories for free speech at America's public universities, ADF is one of the nation's most respected and successful legal advocates, working to preserve our fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, and conscience for people from all walks of life," he said.

REFERENCE--Southern Poverty Law Center Transfers Millions in Cash to Offshore Entities
freebeacon / FR Posted on 08/31/2017 3:47:45 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

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The SPLC off-shore banking scam sounds suspiciously like the Madoff fraud. When he went to jail, investigators found Ponzi King Bernie Madoff had stashed billions offshore---into a labyrinth of financial entities.

COLLUSION AND CONSPIRACIES GALORE

Some $8.9 billion was funneled to Madoff through a dozen so-called feeder funds based in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America......a labyrinth of hedge funds, management companies and service providers that, to unsuspecting outsiders, seemed to compose a formidable system of checks and balances.

But the purpose of this complex architecture was just the opposite: the feeder funds provided different modes for directing money to Madoff in order to avoid scrutiny.

=====================================

The Bank Secrecy Act should be mobilized----to follow the paper trail and determine how money changed hands among (a) SPLC (b) Obama and OFA, (c) leftist groups and donors.

Demand that the scope and dimension of collusion in sub rosa deals be examined, as to who might be personally profiting and if financing domestic terrorism is being facilitated.

<><> L/E needs to examine bank accounts of the aforementioned.

<><> Joint bank accounts might be used to facilitate the transfer funds from one account to another, and/or wire-transferred offshore;

<><> To cover their tracks, fake invoices might be created to show that money deposited into SPLC accounts was being used for legitimate purposes.

<><> Financial schemes scheme might be advanced by issuing phony statements of payments from financial sources that actually covered the transfer of funds for insiders' personal use and/or for financing domestic terrorism.

Shady banking transactions could be prosecuted under the (1) Bank Secrecy ACT, (2) RICO, and, (3) the Hobbs Act.

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<><> L/E should get ahold of: (1) copies of SPLC checks, (2) wire transfers, (3) account statements, (4) invoices, (5) bills, (6) delivery tickets, (7) SPLC correspondence including snail mail, e-mail, mobile devices, cell phones, (8) contracts, (9) loan agreements, (10) other account books or official records.

L/E should also explore (a) monies paid to brokers, sub- brokers, (b) family members, (c) mortgage brokers, (d) financial managers, and, (e) real estate agents, brokers, and developers.

<><> L/E should scrutinize bank accounts for suspicious activites: (A) large deposits, (B) funds transferred from one account into another, (C) frequent requests for withdrawals.

<><> SPLC bank records might also show diversions to secret LLC accounts, to money launder and to operate personal ventures;

Tax fraud may also be a factor, facilitated by withdrawals, gift cards purchases, credit card purchases and intra-bank transfers from legal bank accounts into personal accounts, or redistribution schemes.

<><> A huge tipoff is whether SPLC bank withdrawals support luxurious lifestyle including payments for real estate, investment and stock holdings, jewelry, luxury vehicles, resort travel....... and gifts and purchases from luxury outlets.

Southern Poverty Law Center and Hate
Townhall.com ^ | October 6, 2017 | Rebecca Hagelin / FR Posted by Kaslin

Splcexposed.com. Write that site down and visit it often.

It reveals how the radical Left is trying to destroy organizations and individuals who are working to defend America’s families and our civil society.

Splcexposed.com specifically reveals the agenda of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an extreme Leftist operation that is swimming in money and deception.

Masquerading as a benevolent organization, the SPLC has adopted the intelligence and vocabulary of the big bully on the playground who engages in name-calling in order to isolate and intimidate anyone who won’t join his wicked little cabal.

You know the drill. The Leftists always resort to the “nanny, nanny boo boo” strategy when they know they can’t win a debate on the merits.

“Sexist! Racist! Bigot! HATER!” they scream.

SPLC has institutionalized the idiotic practice of name-calling and now is known for its well publicized list of so-called “haters.” But it is much more dangerous than the childish bully as they increasingly use mob-like tactics to blacklist and vilify those on the right who are among the most successful at preserving and protecting Judeo-Christian values and the Constitution.

The SPLC’s incendiary tactics have spawned at least two acts of shocking violence, the most recent being the attempt to mow down Republican congressmen on a baseball field, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, whom the SPLC had profiled on its website.

Previously, a radical Leftist gunman entered the building of the Christian ministry Family Research Council and shot a building manager who miraculously still succeeded in disarming the thug before he could massacre the FRC staff. Now in prison, the domestic terrorist admitted that he targeted the ministry because the Southern Poverty Law Center had listed FRC as a hate group.

Founded in 1971, ostensibly to fight evil organizations like the KKK, the Southern Poverty Law Center marched ever further to the Left and figured out over the years that it only had to do one simple thing to defeat legitimate organizations and silence debate: list their political enemies as haters too.

The tactic is incredibly effective because 1) most Americans don’t look beyond the headline and see what people really stand for, 2) no one wants to be associated with a “hater,” and 3) the mass media, who are part of the ignorant bully’s sick little club, gleefully spread the lies far and wide.

The SPLC, vitriolic Leftist politicians and their media minions are engaged in an all-out war of lies on those who believe in free-market principles, that marriage is between one man and one woman, and that gender is part of our DNA.

And, boy, are they raking in the big bucks in the process. The SPLC is uber rich. In fact, its coffers have more than $320 million, much of which is stashed in off-shore accounts. Read that sentence again and tell me if it makes any sense for an organization that claims to be a champion for the poor.

In the description of their programs, the SPLC doesn’t focus on reducing poverty, putting food into the mouths of hungry children, or training the underprivileged in skills that can help them land jobs.

It does, however, talk a lot about its “three-pronged strategy to battle racial and social injustice.” But what does that include?

The first prong is “Fighting Hate.” It alone decides what constitutes “hate,” which it has chosen to be nothing more than disagreeing with the Leftist political agenda.

The second prong is “Teaching Tolerance.” In practice, that means brainwashing children into a extremist worldview by partnering with public schools to use SPLC teaching materials. (For example, on the SPLC’s website dedicated to “tolerance,” it instructs educators to “Teach the facts about sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and learn how to advocate for LGBT youth.”)

The third prong is “Seeking Justice.” And what does it highlight in its definition of “justice?” Of course, socialistic economic policies.

And in recent years, its Intelligence Project has been “monitoring and exposing the activities of anti-LGBT hate groups that disseminate demonizing propaganda.” The chief vehicle for its expose is its quarterly magazine, The Intelligence Report, self-described as a “periodical monitoring the radical right in the U.S.”

And there you have it. The SPLC wields its right of free speech like a club, bludgeoning the those who seek to debate ideas in the public square. It is nothing more than an activist, Leftist operation fostering civil unrest and the destruction of constitutional rights.

So … who is the real hater?

WIKI——On March 18, 2003, two illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Edwin Alfredo Mancía Gonzáles and Fátima del Socorro Leiva Medina, were trespassing through a Texas ranch owned by Joseph Sutton. They were accosted by vigilantes known as Ranch Rescue, who were recruited by Sutton to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border region nearby.[42] Mancía, Leiva, and the SPLC alleged that members of Ranch Rescue held the two migrants at gunpoint, threatened them with death, and otherwise terrorized them; they also alleged that Mancía was struck on the back of the head with a handgun and that a Rottweiler dog was allowed to attack him.[42][64] Mancía and Leiva also stated that the vigilantes gave them water, cookies and a blanket before letting them go after about an hour.[64]

Later that year, SPLC, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and local attorneys filed a civil suit, Leiva v. Ranch Rescue, in Jim Hogg County, Texas, against Ranch Rescue and several of its associates, seeking damages for assault and illegal detention. In April 2005, SPLC obtained judgements totaling $1 million against Ranch Rescue member Casey James Nethercott and Ranch Rescue’s leader, Torre John Foote. Those awards came six months after a $350,000 judgement in the same case and coincided with a $100,000 out-of-court settlement with Sutton. Nethercott’s 70-acre (280,000 m2) Arizona property, which was Ranch Rescue’s headquarters, was seized to pay the judgement. Nethercott was also charged by Texas prosecutors of pistol-whipping Mancía (which Nethercott denied). A jury deadlocked on the pistol-whipping charge but convicted Nethercott of being a felon in possession of a firearm (as he had a prior assault conviction in California).[64] SPLC staff worked with Texas prosecutors to obtain Nethercott’s conviction.[42][65]

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