Top former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has been charged in New York with money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud in connection with his role in a fundraising effort to privately underwrite the construction of the US-Mexico border wall, according to the indictment unsealed on Thursday.
The indictment includes two counts of money laundering in the second degree and conspiracy in the fourth degree. Mr Bannon surrendered himself to the Manhattan district attorney’s office after being told in recent days that charges were imminent, sources familiar with the matter said.
Mr Bannon is facing charges that he siphoned off more than $1 million from the We Build the Wall fundraising effort that promised to send all proceeds towards underwriting the completion of the US-Mexico border wall to enrich himself and his associates, noted the 22-page indictment.
The fundraising effort promised donors that its organisers would not draw any compensation. But, the indictment said hundreds of thousands of dollars were funnelled through non-profit entities, including some controlled by Mr Bannon, to pay a salary for Brian Kolfage, one of his associates.
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Political prosecution
Mr Bannon walked into the district attorney’s office alongside his lawyer, David Schoen, shouting over assembled television cameras that he believed he was facing a political prosecution that sought to undermine his far-right talk show, War Room, in the 60-day run-up to the 2022 mid-terms.
The state charges — led by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and New York state attorney general Leticia James — mirror the federal indictment brought in August 2020 against Mr Bannon and three co-defendants: Mr Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea in the effort that raised more than $25 million. ”Mr Bannon took advantage of his donors’ political views to secure millions of dollars which he then misappropriated. Mr Bannon lied to his donors to enrich himself and his friends,” said Ms James of the charges, where the top count carries a maximum of 15 years in prison in the event of a conviction.
Mr Bannon never went to trial after he received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump that expunged the federal charges. But pardons do not apply to state-level prosecutions and the New York state charges mark significant legal peril for the architect of Mr Trump’s 2016 election win.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office started examining whether to pursue a case against Mr Bannon almost immediately after he received the pardon, said one source with knowledge of the matter, and several close Bannon allies recently received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury.
That office opened its case armed with the knowledge that two others — Mr Kolfage and Mr Badolato — had pleaded guilty to the August 2020 federal case and that Mr Kolfage had admitted to the judge that he had conspired to illegally receive money from donations made to the project.
The expected indictment comes weeks after Mr Bannon was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack. He is expected to appeal that conviction.
Millions of dollars
Building a wall at the US-Mexico border became a rallying cry for Mr Trump during his presidency. And the charges suggest Mr Bannon and his co-defendants exploited the popularity of the project to dupe donors for their own gain. Mr Trump had promised that the wall would be paid for by Mexico.
“Defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalising on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretence that all of that money would be spent on construction,” said US attorney in Manhattan Audrey Strauss at the time.
The developments in the federal case were closely watched, initially because of Mr Bannon’s involvement, and how he was pulled off a luxury yacht by federal agents, and then after his pardon, because none of the other three defendants received similar executive action from Mr Trump.
According to the federal indictment, prosecutors said Mr Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, and his co-defendants misrepresented that all the money raised would be used “in the execution of our mission and purpose” in order to convince Trump supporters to donate to the project.
Mr Kolfage took more than $350,000 in donated funds and used that money to pay for home renovations, a luxury SUV, boat, golf cart, cosmetic surgery and jewellery, noted the indictment. Mr Kolfage and Mr Badolato both pleaded guilty to the charges.