Steve Bannon, one-time chief strategist to former President Donald Trump, was charged by the Manhattan district attorney Thursday with conspiracy and money laundering for his fundraising scheme tied to the construction of a southern U.S. border wall.
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Bannon, who surrendered early Thursday morning and was expected to plead not guilty, was pardoned by Trump from related federal fraud charges connected to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign, but he remained vulnerable to charges at the New York state level.
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Bannon as an individual and WeBuildTheWall Inc. on two counts of money laundering and four counts of conspiracy in the allegedly fraudulent plot to raise money from donors, including “several hundred from New York County, based on the false representation that none of the money donated” would be used to pay Brian Kolfage, the organization’s president.
The money laundering counts stem from Bannon’s alleged transfer of “hundreds of thousands of dollars to various third-party entities,” including a nonprofit organization controlled by himself, which would then transfer some of that money to Kolfage for his involvement. The indictment claims Bannon and his co-conspirators laundered at least $140,000 to Kolfage despite a public vow that he would “not take a penny.”
“As alleged, Stephen Bannon acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “It is a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable.”
Before Trump pardoned Bannon in the federal case, he was charged with wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Federal prosecutors accused him and three associates of using shell companies and sham contracts to misappropriate nearly $1.4 million from hundreds of thousands of donors with a promise that 100% of the funds would go toward efforts to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Bannon’s co-defendants were not pardoned by the former head of state, with both pleading guilty in the run-up to trial.
In a separate case, Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress in July of this year for blatantly ignoring subpoenas from the Jan. 6 House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and Trump’s involvement. For that charge, he is set to be sentenced in October.
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Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1528489/bannon-surrenders-to-manhattan-da-on-border-wall-charges
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