Posted on 08/20/2020 4:06:08 PM PDT by conservative98
WASHINGTON — Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage promised donors to his online crowdfunding campaign that their money would only go to construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, he cashed in on that trust by secretly taking more than $300,000 in donations to buy himself a luxury car, jewelry and pay down his debts, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed Thursday.
Kolfage 38, of Miramar Beach, Fla., is a well-known Purple Heart recipient who survived a rocket attack in 2004 at Balad Air Base in Iraq that caused the amputation of his legs and right arm, according to his official website. His site also claims he is “the most severely wounded airman to survive any war.”
In December 2018, Kolfage started a GoFundMe campaign called “We the People Will Build the Wall” to raise money to donate to the federal government’s construction of the wall along the southwest border. He later founded a nonprofit organization called “We Build the Wall” to allow donors to transfer their GoFundMe donations for the new purpose of constructing a private border wall. The nonprofit has raised more than $25 million from those donors as well as new donors.
Kolfage was arrested Thursday for defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors by secretly getting paid with their contributions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced in a statement.
Each of the four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each charge has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
On the We Build the Wall website, Kolfage states he is building a wall on the border because “I take the security of the American people very seriously.” The wall is to be constructed on private property to supplement Trump’s border wall plans, according to the site.
“It’s time we stand up and fight back against the globalist who continue to allow our nation to be overrun. I fought in war and lost three limbs defending this country, but now the war is at our doorstep,” the nonprofit’s website states on its donation page.
While some money was spent on wall construction, all four men took from the funds and spent it on themselves, according to the indictment. In order to encourage donations for the nonprofit, Bannon and Kolfage publicly stated Kolfage would not take any of the money for himself.
“Some of those donors wrote directly to Kolfage that they did not have a lot of money and were skeptical about online fundraising campaigns, but they were giving what they could because they trusted Kolfage would keep his word about how their donations would be spent,” the indictment states.
Instead of following through on their promises to donors regarding no compensation for Kolfage, the men “secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,” acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in the prepared statement.
The indictment states Kolfage, Bannon, and Badolato “reached a secret agreement” just days after establishing the We Build the Wall nonprofit so Kolfage could be “covertly” paid $100,000 upfront and then another $20,000 each month.
They have to unfortunately but I don't. Go way lawyer. I'd tell you a hackneyed lawyer joke but you know thew all.
Hey, rocket scientist, I am not a federal prosecutor.
This is a pretty clear case of a shell game of money laundering.
Inept.
Very traceable
Clown Show
They will have to plea bargain.
that answer is complete bullshit. who are you??
Obviously someone with more brains than you.
Low life dirtbags do nothing for me. Bye
Ferrari
“We are respectable people, we should get the benefit of the doubt.”
That may be exactly the way a Manhattan federal jury will view the case.
Could be, but some of the defendants have been involved in other sketchy schemes.
I got involved after We Build the Wall completed their first project neat El Paso. The government said it would take $15 million and 6 months to run Border Wall up Mount Cristo Rey. WBTW built it in 3 weeks and for $8 million. I was impressed. Others as well. They have two other projects in the works after completing one in Texas along the Rio Grande.
They were on a roll, until this indictment.
It’s too bad some bad people decided to enrich themselves.
I am totally disillusioned that bannon was 1. so stupid to do this and 2. he was so inept at it.
A criminal conspiracy is only as crafty as it’s weakest link. This was a clown show.
Bingo, in spades
It’s a good idea to let all the facts come in, because every charity under the sun allows money to be taken to pay the managers. Yes they said they were volunteers but if the foundation’s papers said they could take fees then they could take fees and this case will be weaker. These NY prosecutors have made up a lot of shit in the past about anyone who supports Trump, and the Chinese desperately want to shut Bannon up and will spread money to do it.
Look at the Clinton Foundation, they don’t give any money out and pay themselves like champs. It’s a joke. Selective prosecution much?
It also matters what they say in the ads, not just the paperwork. If they say they don’t take the wall money, but Stephen K. Bannon is off the coast of Saint-Tropez in southern France, in the Mediterranean and on the million-dollar yacht of Brian Kolfage and Brian Kolfage took all that money from ‘We Build The Wall”, then that is a problem.
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