Bannon Arrested for Fraud

 Former Donald Trump campaign strategist was arrested Thursday and charged with defrauding hundreds of people as part of a group the promised to use private money to build a section of border wall, a signature issue of the president. Bannon, who helped steer Trump's campaign then joined him in the White House in 2017 as chief strategist only to be forced out, is accused of pocketing $1 million in the alleged scheme. The group promised donors it was a volunteer effort that would direct all funds toward a crash effort to construct wall without government red tape. In reality, say federal prosecutors in New York, the group's founders siphoned off funds for themselves.

Steve  Bannon is arrested with three others in border wall fundraiser fraud: Former Trump adviser faces 40 years in jail for 'ripping off hundreds of thousands of "Build the Wall" donors to finance lavish lifestyle of yachts and private jets'

 Former Donald Trump campaign strategist was arrested Thursday and charged with defrauding hundreds of people as part of a group the promised to use private money to build a section of border wall, a signature issue of the president. Bannon, who helped steer Trump's campaign then joined him in the White House in 2017 as chief strategist only to be forced out, is accused of pocketing $1 million in the alleged scheme. The group promised donors it was a volunteer effort that would direct all funds toward a crash effort to construct wall without government red tape. In reality, say federal prosecutors in New York, the group's founders siphoned off funds for themselves.

 

• Bannon was taken into custody on a $28 million megayacht by federal agents with the US Postal Inspection Service, an FBI-like unit that investigates mail fraud and other crimes. [Vox / Nicole Narea]
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• Three other men — Andrew Badolato, Timothy Shea, and Brian Kolfage — were also arrested in connection with the case, a GoFundMe scheme to crowdfund the construction of a wall on the southern border. [NPR / Barbara Sprunt]
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• The GoFundMe raised $25 million for the effort, but Bannon and his confederates reportedly funneled more than $1 million of that money into their own pockets. [NYT / Alan Feuer and William K. Rashbaum]
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• The fundraiser first got its start with Kolfage, a veteran and a triple amputee. According to an NBC story from early last year, Kolfage frequently used GoFundMe, among other tools, as a way to harvest email addresses. [NBC News / Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins]
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• Kolfage had pledged that “100 percent” of the money raised would go toward building a wall, but the indictment indicates that he personally spent $350,000 in donor money on a boat and a golf cart, among other things. [Washington Post / Matt Zapotosky] 
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• Engineers and hydrologists told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune the wall should not have been built so close to the Rio Grande. (Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune/ProPublica)
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• The group did manage to build a three-mile stretch of wall, according to a report by ProPublica. However, slipshod construction means that the fence is in danger of falling into the Rio Grande River. [ProPublica / Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo]
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• On Thursday, Trump disavowed the group and his former adviser, telling reporters that “I don't like that project — I thought it was being done for showboating reasons.” [Politico / Josh Gerstein] 
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• But Donald Trump Jr. endorsed the project in 2018, and there’s quite a bit of overlap between Trumpworld and the We Build the Wall group — not only was Bannon involved, but so was Trump-endorsed 2018 Kansas gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, among others. [Twitter / Andrew Kaczynsk
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