Posted on 08/20/2020 7:15:08 AM PDT by Red Badger
Steve Bannon, ‘We Build The Wall’ organizers arrested, charged with defrauding donors
Steve Bannon has been federally indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection to a crowdfunding campaign to build a border wall. Bannon was arrested this morning in Washington, D.C. on charges he and others allegedly made false representations about the “We Build the Wall campaign.”
Bannon, 66 is expected to appear in court virtually on Thursday.
Prosecutors said Bannon and others defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors to the online campaign by falsely assuring them the organizers were not taking a penny of donation money — Bannon had publicly stated, “we’re a volunteer organization.”
“Those representations were false,” the indictment said.
Bannon, Brian Koflage, 38, of Mirimar Beach, Florida, Andrew Badolato, 56, of Sarasota, Florida, and Timothy Shea, 49, of Castle Rock, Colorado, were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The defendants allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with the crowdfunding campaign, which raised more than $25 million.
The indictment was brought by prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
“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,” acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a press release. “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.”
According to the indictment, Bannon took at least $1 million to pay personal expenses.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
I’ve got my fingers crossed. The media thinks it’s fine to arrest Bannon (aka Friend of Trump) just before the election. Because, you know, it’s not political.
I imagine DOJ indictments of a bunch of Democrats will be seen the same way by the media.
FU Bill Barr.
no good deed goes unpunished, especially if you’re a true conservative.
thanks barr, for nothing.
This thread is a perfect example of why FR comes across as an echo chamber full of really stupid people. It’s equivalent to flat earthers, 6000 year creationists and people who claim masks are of the devil.
If you’ve already posted anything along the lines of “psh, it’s SDNY, I donated, not real, fake news” and these charges are actually legitimate ... yup. Thanks for playing.
100% WRONG.
Whether Bannon siphoned some cash for hookers and blow from this charity is a minor issue compared to the fact we have an ongoing assault against President Trump and his supporters. This coup is being perpetrated from places like SDNY. There is no crime if you a Democrat. Everything is a crime if you are a supporter of POTUS.
Don’t think they won’t eventually come for you and yours for supporting an unfavored candidate. This is what a police state looks like. Do not excuse the partisan behavior of the Democrats at SDNY.
What? You thought the phrase "a grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what you wanted." was a joke?
An obvious typo, pointed out to make people think Trump can't spell. If that had been a Democrat, it would have been written perhsps[sic]
We’re both damned.
Perhaps, or perhaps edited to perhaps.
NO hungry Jews in Israel. Total scam ripping off gullible American Christians.
“Israel spend so much on border protection their citizens starve”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v2DU1DUbAY
Someone like that is far more effective as a judge, a governor, or even President. That’s why effective leaders like Donald Trump don’t waste their time pursuing useless legislative offices when they want to actually accomplish something.
Roy Moore will he remembered as one of the most tone-deaf, incompetent political candidates of my lifetime. If there was any injustice in his 2017 defeat he would have been the front-runner in 2020. He failed miserably this time around — which is all you need to know about the guy.
The prosecutors may have done Trump a huge favor here. If Bannon had gotten involved in the 2020 campaign over the next couple of months we would have had the FBI conducting surveillance on the Trump campaign all over again. Maybe THIS is what AG Barr knew.
I think your problem is with social conservatives.
I’ve stated many times that I would have voted for Roy Moore even if every one of the stupid allegations against him was true.
Then you should send them most of your money, but remember to save some for the preacherman on TV. Jesus told him he needed a new airplane, and you don’t want to piss off Jesus. “Conservative” grifters like this piss me off because I don’t think any of us sent money to the Clinton Foundation. Whereas guys like this harm the people that support their alleged cause.
If you read the story you will see they repeat the allegations many times without going into any further details.
This is a BS charge and I think the charges will be dropped.
This is similar to when they charged the “My Pillow” guy with some kind of fraud for offering a ‘2-for-1’ sale all the time, so it was not a ‘sale’.
"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican Party.
Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn't as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn't represent my base—he's only in it for himself.
Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.
We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down."
Glad to hear that! We are going to need people who are bit off the mainstream to dig out of the hole that we are currently in.
If they really did misspend a couple hundred thousand dollars out of 25 million raised, they might be the most honest fundraisers in history.
“Maybe he has been in meetings, the TV is off or tuned to a return of the Price is Right, or someone stole the copy of the USA Today that was left at his hotel room’s door. But once he finds out, this game by rouge prosecutors will end.”
Bilbo Bagpipes might be out of “appalled”s.
Proving my point.
“minor issue”
Is it illegal?
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