Steve Bannon charged with fraud conspiracy over US-Mexico border wall funding
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in relation to a fundraising campaign to support the building of the US-Mexico border wall, the US Justice Department said today.
Trump’s former White House chief strategist was arrested on charges that he defrauded donors to an online drive to build a border wall between the US and Mexico.
The US Justice Department said Bannon and three others were behind a scheme to defraud thousands of donors to a crowdfunding campaign that raised $25m (£19m) to build a border wall between the US and Mexico.
Bannon took more than $1m from the fund according to an indictment unsealed today in Manhattan Federal court.
The indictment alleged that Bannon used hundreds of thousands of dollars of that money to cover personal expenses.
US prosecutors alleged that Bannon, 66, Brian Kolfage, 38, Andrew Badolato, 56, and Timothy Shea, 49, all profited from the scheme.
The four men have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Acting US attorney Audrey Strauss said: “While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle.”
Inspector-in-charge Philip Bartlett said: “The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds. As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth.”