Steve Bannon Charged With Money Laundering in Border-Wall Case

 Former Trump senior adviser is indicted in New York after being pardoned during president’s last day in office in a federal case involving similar conduct

Steve Bannon was escorted into a courtroom in New York on Thursday.PHOTO: CAITLIN OCHS/REUTERS

By Corinne Ramey

 and James Fanelli

Updated Sept. 8, 2022 5:19 pm ET

Steve Bannon, a former senior Trump adviser, was indicted in New York on charges of money laundering and other crimes in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud donors to a border-wall nonprofit.

Mr. Bannon, 68 years old, surrendered Thursday to law-enforcement officials at the Manhattan district attorney’s office in lower Manhattan around 9 a.m. The indictment charged both Mr. Bannon and We Build the Wall, a crowdfunding campaign that backed an effort to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, with money laundering, conspiracy and fraud.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that Mr. Bannon had acted as the architect of a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the U.S.—and hundreds in New York.

“We are here to say today in one voice that in Manhattan and New York, you will be held accountable for defrauding donors,” Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, said at a news conference.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat whose office also participated in the investigation, said Mr. Bannon “lied to his donors to enrich himself and his friends.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announcing charges against Steve Bannon in New York on Thursday.PHOTO: VICTOR J. BLUE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Mr. Bannon, through one of his lawyers, entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment Thursday afternoon. He was released after his appearance but a judge ordered him to surrender his passport.

Outside the courthouse, Mr. Bannon and his lawyer David Schoen said the charges were politically motivated and timed to the coming midterm elections.

Mr. Schoen called the indictment a “carbon copy” of the 2020 federal fraud case against Mr. Bannon that involved similar conduct related to building a border wall, which was one of former President Donald Trump’s signature promises. Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Bannon in the federal case on his last day in office.

“The theory of prosecution appears to now focus on Mr. Bannon without any new facts in the case,” Mr. Schoen said.

---

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

Capital Journal

Scoops, analysis and insights driving Washington from the WSJ's D.C. bureau.

Subscribed

---

The New York indictment accuses Mr. Bannon of conspiring to misrepresent to donors that Brian Kolfage, the president and chief executive of We Build the Wall, wouldn’t receive a salary from the campaign. Mr. Kolfage is referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.

Mr. Bannon and another unindicted co-conspirator discussed in text messages in 2018 and 2019 that Mr. Kolfage’s promise of not accepting a salary would help in fundraising, according to the indictment.

In reality, Mr. Kolfage received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from We Build the Wall through concealed payments, prosecutors alleged. We Build the Wall transferred funds to third-party entities, including one controlled by Mr. Bannon, which in turn used a portion of the money to pay to Mr. Kolfage, they alleged.

In the related federal case, the Justice Department charged Messrs. Bannon and Kolfage and two other men with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think lies ahead for Steve Bannon as he faces New York state criminal charges? Join the conversation below.

Mr. Kolfage pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in that case. His lawyer didn’t have any immediate comment.

Mr. Bannon is the third person charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office under state law while also being pardoned by Mr. Trump for similar alleged federal offenses. In 2019, Manhattan prosecutors charged former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort with state residential mortgage fraud. A state judge tossed the case. Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Manafort for federal crimes in 2020.

In 2021, Manhattan prosecutors charged former Trump ally Ken Kurson with cybercrimes, and he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors earlier this year. In 2020, Brooklyn federal prosecutors had charged Mr. Kurson with cyberstalking three people, and Mr. Trump later pardoned him.

Separate from the New York case, Mr. Bannon is awaiting an Oct. 21 sentencing on contempt of Congress charges.

In a July 22 verdict, a federal jury in Washington said Mr. Bannon unlawfully defied a subpoena issued by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Trump Pardons Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne In Final Clemency Flurry

 NPR

RYAN LUCAS

AYESHA RASCOE

Steve Bannon leaves federal court on Aug. 20 after pleading not guilty to charges he defrauded donors to an online fundraising scheme to build a southern border wall.

Craig Ruttle/AP

Updated at 2:30 a.m. ET

President Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist who was indicted over allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of people in an online campaign to raise funds for a southern border wall — one of dozens of acts of clemency in the final hours of his administration.

The lengthy list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations landed after midnight. Trump left the White House for the last time Wednesday morning, skipping the inaugural ceremonies of his successor, President-elect Joe Biden.

Other notable names on Trump's clemency list included rapper Lil Wayne, who received a full pardon after being charged last year with possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., endorsed Trump ahead of the November election, tweeting a picture of himself with the president.

Bill Kapri, the rapper better known as Kodak Black, had his sentence commuted, as did Michael "Harry O" Harris, co-founder of Death Row Records.

Trump embraced his clemency power early on in his presidency and has primarily used it to help out prominent supporters. Also on his most recent list: Elliott Broidy, a former fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, and Paul Erickson, another former fundraiser whose Russian girlfriend was working as a foreign agent.

Since he lost the election, Trump has ramped up his use of his pardon authority, granting clemency to nearly 50 people the week before Christmas. Overall, he had issued around 90 pardons and commutations before this latest batch.

POLITICS

Trump Grants Slew Of Pardons, Including To George Papadopoulos And Duncan Hunter

Many of the people granted clemency have been politically connected or convicted of white collar crimes. There were no family members on Trump's new list, but Kenneth Kurson, a friend of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, was given a full pardon for cyberstalking his ex-wife. There were also a few more former Republican lawmakers: Rick Renzi of Arizona, Robin Hayes of North Carolina and Duke Cunningham of California.

Tommaso Buti, who was charged with financial fraud after he opened a restaurant chain featuring supermodels called Fashion Cafe, was also given a full pardon. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, serving 28 years for corruption, had his sentence commuted. And Trump pardoned Robert Zangrillo, a Miami businessman charged in the college admissions bribery scandal known as Varsity Blues.

Advocates have pressed Trump to offer clemency to people serving years behind bars for low-level drug offenses. While Trump has issued some pardons to people such as Alice Johnson, a Black grandmother who was sentenced to life in prison for a first-time drug conviction, he had intervened in such cases much less often.

His last big pardons push included scores of people recommended for clemency by advocates and the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney.

It's not unusual for presidents to issue a wave of pardons and commutations in their last days in office. Former President Barack Obama granted clemency to 330 prisoners serving time for drug offenses the day before the end of his term. It was a part of Obama's push to address mass incarceration caused by the war on drugs.

One of the most notorious 11th-hour pardon sprees happened under former President Bill Clinton. He pardoned more than 100 people on his last day in office, including his brother, Roger Clinton, and fugitive financier Marc Rich. The pardons sparked outrage and became known as "Pardongate."

Master and apprentice

Bannon was arrested in August along with three other men on wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from their work for "We Build the Wall," an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Prosecutors say Bannon and his fellow defendants, although they'd promised donors that all the funds would go toward the wall, secretly siphoned off hundreds of thousands of dollars and lined their own pockets.

Bannon allegedly received more than $1 million from the organization through a nonprofit he controls, according to the indictment, and at least some of that money was used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses. All four defendants pleaded not guilty.

Trump and Bannon have had a mutually beneficial relationship that has also at times been rocky.

Bannon was running the far-right news outlet Breitbart when Trump tapped him to lead his campaign in the final months of the 2016 race. After helping Trump pull out his surprise victory, Bannon followed him into the White House as chief strategist.

He helped push some of the most divisive actions in the early days of the Trump administration, including the so-called Muslim ban.

Bannon's major role brought the media spotlight, including a photo on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "The Great Manipulator." The cover allegedly rankled the president, who was said to believe he deserved more credit than his adviser.

After a bumpy eight months in the White House that included no shortage of sniping and palace intrigue, Bannon was pushed out of the administration.

He immediately returned to Breitbart, where he continued to push a nationalist, pro-Trump message. Bannon was later forced out at Breitbart. His relationship with the president continued to fray, including over damaging statements attributed to Bannon in tell-all books about the Trump White House.

Yet the two men never totally parted ways. Bannon mounted a vigorous defense of the president during his first impeachment proceedings, launching a podcast and radio show to defend Trump.

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]
•  
• 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]
•  
• 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]
•  
• 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]
•  
• 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] 
• 
• 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)
•  
• 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]
•  
• 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] 
• 
• 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
•