Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has been arrested and indicted by the Manhattan US attorney for defrauding people in an online fundraising scheme.
The arrest is tied to the “We Build The Wall” online fundraising scheme which invited Americans to donate to a campaign to build the wall with private funds. Notably, this is a separate issue from the FBI investigation into a media venture involving Bannon, an exiled Chinese businessman, and the son of Morgan Stanley’s co-founder.
The arrest comes just hours before Joe Biden is set to accept the Democratic nomination. Bannon was indicted by Audrey Strauss, the successor (and former deputy head) to Geoffrey Berman, the US attorney in Manhattan who was messily pushed out by Bill Barr a few weeks ago.
Read the DoJ press release explaining the charges below:
Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced the unsealing of an indictment charging BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA for their roles in defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall” that raised more than $25 million. The defendants were arrested this morning. KOLFAGE will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida. BANNON will be presented today in the Southern District of New York. BADOLATO will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida. SHEA will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction. 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. We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”
Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. 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. This case should serve as a warning to other fraudsters that no one is above the law, not even a disabled war veteran or a millionaire political strategist.”
According to the Indictment[1] unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Starting in approximately December 2018, BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA, and others, orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose” because, as BANNON publicly stated, “we’re a volunteer organization.”
Those representations were false. In truth, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations. In particular, KOLFAGE covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall, while BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control (“Non-Profit-1”), received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which BANNON used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON’s personal expenses. To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA devised a scheme to route those payments from We Build the Wall to KOLFAGE indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under SHEA’s control, among other avenues. They did so by using fake invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to ensure, as KOLFAGE noted in a text message to BADOLATO, that his pay arrangement remained “confidential” and kept on a “need to know” basis.
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Ha! I am sure Bannon and his pals did siphon off some bucks. Read up on American “charities” and so-called “Non-Profits”. Many of the most well-known are simply scams. I won’t even go into TV evangelists. This is nothing but corrupt Democrat prosecutors going after Trump through Bannon. Bannon is something of a weirdo but hardly a criminal mastermind. Pure politics. The Democrats are terrified and should be. Word is Biden pooped in his pants when he was recording his speech to the convention. They say a look of sublime satisfaction passed over his face. First bowel movement in weeks.
“May I take your trident, sir?”
WHen comedy was irreverent and hysterically funny.
Please stop with the “Democrats are terrified line.”
There is no Sword of Damocles hanging over them.
That tired notion was created in a Cambridge Analytica outhouse years ago.
SS, If true, both of the most recent Dem candidates have shit themselves during their campaign. Another reason to stay in the basement. Maybe he shit himself when the reports came in that their convention looks like a Nuremberg Rally against White people and Constitutionalists of all colors.
Rumor has it Trump’s popularity poll ratings improved almost 4% over the last three days of the Dem Convention. If it’s as accurate as past polls the truth is more a multiple of that.
Shocking, but it probably has more to do with Steve’s Hong Kong ambitions, hence all the HK drama the last two years. Does Bannon really need to steal a few bucks with his billionaire connections?
Meanwhile, his former boss is “saving the world” and sounds snarky and uninspiring when a reporter respectfully asks about Q-Pedos.
Would you like him better if he rode a white horse?
It would probably have to be the talking Horse…Mr.Ed?
A hoax is hoax of course of course…unless the hoax is the one trick pony poster .22.
Tell me he doesn’t look and act just like Benito Mussolini.
He does not.
If I’ve told my homie once, I’ve told him 7,8,9,11,25,27 or 33 times, gee you can’t fool the great American peeps…
How timely!
Last week it was the NRA and the bi-partisan Senate committee on Russia interference.
This week its Bannon. Next week who knows?
All the Repubs can do last week was indict a no name lawyer who got caught and admitted changing evidence over 9 months ago. Pitiful weakness.
Southern District of New York ? Again? It would appear their only focus and reason for being is to get Trump. What happened to the Weiner? Hillary?
There’s no interest when all the DAs and Atty. Generals are paid off with Dem kickbacks.
Shocker! SDNY. Sweet Comet/Meteor of Doom, please extract your karma from that shithole on the Hudson. The entire world – America included – will thank you!
Sounds shady…. but the Southern District is even worse. And the Globalists would love nothing better than to get Bannon. We will see.
Now comes the real show….can they prove it or is this another b/s story?
Bannon has been hammering the Uniparty and exposing their thrall to China and globalism. Xi has publicly attacked him. The Southern District is portrayed to a “T” by the Showtime series “Billions.”
Interesting that Build The Wall was deplatformed by Go Fund Me and others over the past week.
Make the laws complicated enough, and you can get anyone at any time. In DC, everyone is a grifter, but only the ones who step out of line or fail to pay tribute are prosecuted. The good news is that there’s a group of men who have decided they’ve had enough of the uniparty theater.
https://nationaljusticeparty.com/
America’s Power Elite (such as they are) may ultimately get justice, but they certainly don’t want it.
I officially got kicked off Twitter for tweeting about Steve Bannon’s indictment.
What did you tweet?
They’ve been heavily throttling my account for the past year. The entire indictment is complete bullshit.
That’s why I can’t even have a Twitter account. I’d probably tweet something totally innocuous like “Jack Dorsey is a goddamn faggot!” and I’d get the boot.
Oh, well. I guess I’ll just have to go back to writing full length shitposting articles instead of my 140 character tweets.
I can’t believe they suspended you for that Tweet. It makes me appreciate the freedom of expression allowed on TBP. 50% of the comments on TBP are far more offensive than your tweet. Twitter is clearly run by left wing lunatics.
That was my last tweet and they didn’t give me any specific reason, but I’m fully aware I’ve been on a few radars for awhile now. Last year I was getting close to breaking 1 million impressions in a month until they hammered my account down to 79K impressions. They did everything possible to stop my account from growing.
Still, TBP is not without censorship, A BLMer from NC complained about one of my monikers; said it was offensive. We need to keep TBP censor-free.
Let’s send some money in, people! Admin may be funneling some portion of it to support his beer habit but at least it’s Hamm’s or Schlitz instead of the cheap imported stuff.
Do they still make Falstaff?
I almost hate to change the subject but, does anyone know what is happening with RBG? Did the covid get her, old age or does the devil just keep tossing her back at us? Just askin
A Supreme Court seat is pretty valuable, so I’d guess one last tank of babies’ blood was dispatched to RBG. Modern refrigeration is a blessing!
WW, IMHO the most singular issue in the upcoming election is who will nominate RBG’s replacement.
They are keeping her on ice until we get a dem potus.
Darth Vader Ginsberg?
Diaperless, I’m your father. Come to the dark side, my son.
It’s a body double with realistic Hollywood latex mask. It is the same as Hillary wore in the debates of 2016 that made her look 30 years younger. They have some amazing masks and even realistic body skin latex.
Let’s see, a lawyer (((Berman))) was replaced by lawyer (((Strauss))). I said one time that the people Trump surrounds himself with would eventually be his downfall, and he sure likes to keep his pet Kikes around- the kind who will sink their fangs into your ass anytime you turn your back to them.
Which is exactly why we still have Javanka.
Amen to that, brother!