Posted on 08/20/2020 7:44:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon was arrested Thursday for his alleged role in skimming donations from “We Build the Wall”, an online fundraising campaign aimed at gathering funds to construct the president’s controversial border wall, officials said.
Using a non-profit organization that he controlled, Bannon “received over $1m from We Build the Wall, at least some of which Bannon used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in [his] personal expenses”, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
Three other men, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, were also arrested in this alleged scheme to defraud the non-profit, which authorities said raised more than $25m.
The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25m to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.
A phone at the office of Bannon’s lawyer went unanswered Thursday morning. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Justice’s southern district of New York (SDNY) says that Bannon, and the others were arrested for leading the We Build The Wall online fundraising campaign that defrauded its many donors.
In a statement, acting US attorney Audrey Strauss said that the fund capitalized on donors’ interest in building a border wall while instead funneling millions of dollars to fund the “lavish lifestyle” of “We Build The Wall” founder and public face Brian Kolfage.
Philip Bartlett, inspector in charge, said: “As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations ”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Note that nobody who worked for Hillary faces charges for anything, and there were real crimes there that Comey even admitted and then hand waved away as no biggie.
Oh no. Awful, if true. I suspect we will be hearing about the Clinton Foundation very soon.
Right before the Republican Convention. Gee, what a coincidence.
These problems are avoidable. What is needed is basic honesty and communication. The donees need only publish a detailed statement of how funds will be spent and an audited, ongoing account of how funds are being spent. It’s not rocket science.
LOL! Not a chance. The Clintons will die very old, comfortable, and wealthy.
If you live in New York (sean Hannity) it’s a good time to get the hell out of Dodge.
Curious, how much wall did this particular fundraising campaign actually build?
That's a lotta booze. He certainly didn't spend it on his personal appearance. (if this is all true) The left has many many non-profits but I guess they're all squeaky clean? Justice for all my ass.
Isn’t this the group who built a wall over the mountains that the feds said couldn’t be built. It was halted because of some local judge.
We have created ourselves a legal system by electing Democrat after Democrat that is more corrupt and cruel than the Stalin Era NKVD which Hannidity's god the FBI whom he performs fellatio on its members daily if not hourly.
I simply do not trust the DOJ/Deep State not to be corrupt and bringing a politically motivated case here. They’ve been caught being crooked too many times.
Note that this was brought by SDNY, which has been relentless in trying to find issues with all things Trump.
This is probably patterned after the NRA model investigation in New York. The idea really is to strip the tax deductibility of donations to the organizations.
Wake me up when Hillary, her brother, Chelsea, Bill, and DeBlasio’s wife get arrested with those same charges. I’m not going to believe Bannon’s charges for now; the others I mentioned, I KNOW are guilty.
Don’t they know that only Dems like the Clintons and Obamas get away with this stuff?
Translation: We did not get our cut.
From an earlier article from the NYSlimes in re to the acting AG in NY.
Ms. Strauss’s husband, John “Rusty” Wing, a prominent white-collar defense lawyer, is a registered Republican, according to the most recent records from the New York State Board of Elections. Their son, who previously worked as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s press secretary, is married to a senior aide to Mr. Cuomo.
Campaign finance records show that Ms. Strauss is a longtime donor to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2007 and Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012. She contributed in 2006 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Ms. Strauss and her husband have donated to several nonprofit organizations, including after-school programs for underprivileged teenagers and a housing provider for homeless families.
She also has served on the board of the Legal Aid Society, which represents poor defendants, and of the Innocence Project, a group that works to free wrongfully convicted prisoners.
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