Posted on 08/21/2020 11:06:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
Editor’s note: Federal prosecutors in New York have arrested former senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon and three other men, and charged them with allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors to an online fundraising campaign to build portions of wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a University of Notre Dame law professor who researches nonprofits, explains what’s going on and what the consequences could be.
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1. Who is accused of what, exactly?
Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, has accused Bannon and the founder of the “We Build the Wall” crowdfunding campaign, Brian Kolfage, of lying to donors about how their gifts would be used. Two other men, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, are also accused of participating in this alleged scheme.
Kolfage launched the GoFundMe campaign in 2018, originally calling it “We the People Build the Wall.” With Shea’s help, he sought to raise a US$1 billion to support the Trump administration’s effort to build a wall on the Mexican border. But when the campaign only raised around $20 million and it turned out the government could not legally accept the funds, GoFundMe insisted that the funds be returned to about 325,000 donors. In response, Kolfage launched We Build the Wall, Inc., a nonprofit, to receive and use the donations.
To convince donors to redirect their gifts, Kolfage promised that the funds would go “toward wall construction only.” The indictment alleges that Bannon and Badolato helped Kolfage set up the new nonprofit, and that all four defendants told donors that if they agreed to redirect their gifts to the nonprofit “100% of the funds raised” would be used to construct the wall and that no one would be compensated for work tied to this effort. Most donors agreed to shift their money.
But the nonprofit, the authorities determined, paid Kolfage an initial salary of $100,000 in February 2019, followed by monthly payments of $20,000. All told, Kolfage received $350,000 in compensation he spent on personal expenses, including boat payments, home renovations and a SUV. The nonprofit also paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal expenses for Bannon, Badolato and Shea. To hide these transfers, the four defendants allegedly funneled money through another nonprofit, a for-profit shell company under Kolfage’s control and accounts controlled by unnamed associates using “fake invoices,” according to the indictment.
The defendants stand accused of lying to obtain money using electronic communications (wire fraud) and the U.S. Postal Service (mail fraud). They also stand accused of money laundering, that is transferring funds to conceal criminal activity. Strauss brought the charges because at least some of the actions occurred in New York.
Bannon pleaded not guilty and will remain in Washington, D.C. on a $5 million bond while awaiting trial.
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2. What’s the big deal?
Nonprofits may legally pay their leaders. What the defendants did wrong was lie to donors about whether Kolfage would be paid and how the funds would be used. But of course without those lies, it’s hard to know how many donors would have agreed to transfer their gifts to the nonprofit.
Bannon is a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, making this a high-profile case with potential ramifications for the Republican Party.
Several prominent Republicans have supported We Build the Wall. For example, Donald J. Trump Jr. spoke at a fundraiser and former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach serves as the group’s general counsel and sits on its advisory board, along with Erik Prince – a major Trump campaign donor who founded the controversial security company formerly known as Blackwater and whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The indictment didn’t name Prince, Kobach or Donald Trump Jr.
Bannon now joins Trump associates Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos in facing federal charges.
The allegations also fit into a larger pattern of Bannon’s questionable use of nonprofits. In April 2020, Bannon faced questions about his co-founding of two nonprofits with Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese billionaire. Bannon was aboard Guo’s yacht off the Connecticut coastline when federal agents arrested him.
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3. How has President Trump responded?
Asked about Bannon’s arrest shortly after it occurred, Trump called it “a very sad thing” but stressed that he had not been dealing with his former adviser “for a very long period of time.” The White House also issued a statement that claimed Trump “does not know the people involved with this project,” which was immediately contradicted by media reports and other evidence.
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4. What are some of the potential consequences?
The federal charges could lead to prison sentences of up to 20 years and fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. On top of these penalties, the defendants may have to repay the fraudulently obtained funds to their donors.
It is also unclear what the future holds for We Build the Wall, especially with the arrest of its leaders. It has funded various private wall-building efforts, but those have run into structural and legal challenges. Prosecutors have asked for funds in various We Build the Wall bank accounts to be forfeited, which could leave the group without the means to continue operating.
Is this that c***sucker Cyrus Vance again? If so, the case is highly suspect.
Note: I have no problem with taking these guys down if they actually did defraud the donors.
Meanwhile, as #1 Barr shill has been saying re: Obama for months:
Coincidental that the arrest happened on the biggest day of the Dem convention (Biden's acceptance speech) and when Trump was scheduled to make a major campaign speech? Hmmmmmm
I never trusted Bannon......Just something about him........
Kolfage lives here in Florida, between Destin and Sandestin in Miramar Beach, a upscale small town of cloistered million dollar homes................
Post it......................
The following post was written by Dave Wright, but I find it VERY explanatory of what is/may be going on, with Bannon....
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People who have followed Bannon for years see this for what it was, a CCP orchestrated hit. Bannon was on the yacht of Miles Guo because they have been working together for years to defeat the CCP and free the Chinese people from their enslavement.
Guo is a former high ranking CCP billionaire who escaped with his life when he defected from the party and has devoted his life to removing it from power in China. He has a price on his head and must continuously move to avoid being kidnapped by CCP operatives.
His yacht is where Bannon broadcasts his new podcast which Guo subtitles into Chinese and rebroadcasts through the CCP firewall to the people of China. They are heroes to the millions of Chinese expats around the world who have formed the Free Republic of China organization in exile. There is a reason Bannon is public enemy #1 to the CCP especially now that Xi Jinping is in political trouble.
This and the VICE article on which it is based imply Bannon received $1M himself but in fact this was the total that was paid to 4 people including the $350K to Kolfage. The money was not used to pay for Bannon’s “lifestyle” since he was already quite wealthy and doesn’t need to skim a paltry $250K using a highly public 501c that is fully documented and monitored by the government. He is far too committed to the success of the boarder wall to worry about chump change like this.
The truth will come out but right now the feeding frenzy is doing everything it can to claim another Trump supporter scalp. Stay tuned.
(h/t Dave Wright)
I know Dana Loesh never has anything good to say about Bannon on ver radio show. She worked for him at Breitbart.
In the mean time, Hillary’s private family’s “charity” goes unchallenged; while Bill-Hillary Clinton’s charges to their Clinton Library fund for appearance rights while he was president go unchallenged by this same democrat-State District of NY City. Rainbow/PUSH under Jackson?
DiGenova has been saying that Barr will not indict a former president, meaning Obama, for months.
I am just listening to the TruePundit thing now, but I presume the title pretty much says it all.
Pronouns: Sve, ver
Good analysis. Bannon was careless in failing to communicate and to disclose, but it’s quite a stretch to believe that he intended to steal or to mislead.
Anyone who works with not-for-profits knows that unless you’re the Clinton Foundation that you have to really be careful about making statements about how the funds are being used.
“Bannon was careless in failing to communicate and to disclose”
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How do you know this? That he didn’t intend, just careless.
Barr gave “de Facto” immunity????
O.k. proof?
Personally I don’t think they should indict a former President. It would set a precedent. Indicting a former President would set a bad precedent. I’m not saying anything about guilt or innocence. Most of the offenses could be scapegoated on to lower-downs, underllings, and lackeys.making it unnecessary to indict a President. Admittedly, there is nobody that would be acceptable as a scapegoat for Trump, but he wouldn’t need one anyway. Just don’t let’s get in to indicting former Presidents unless the crime is particularly heinous, like getting an ambassador killed.
The text messages do them in on the conspiracy to defraud.
People are going to roll over.
I highly encourage the Vet to get there before the guy who has already ratted out his Shylock.
“Bannon was careless in failing to communicate and to disclose”
Nope.
Read the paperwork as it relates to the bylaws governing the money. He was in charge. He knows what the bylaws say.
“Bannon was careless in failing to communicate and to disclose”
..........
Nope.
Read the paperwork as it relates to the bylaws governing the money. He was in charge. He knows what the bylaws say.
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To do it right and stay out of trouble, require the potential DONOR to read the bylaws, or a summary of their most important money-use provisions, before he pushes the send button. And then publish an ongoing ledger showing that funds are actually being spent according to the bylaws.
It is not Vance. He is a New York district attorney.
This is Audrey Strauss, who was appointed in June by Barr as the acting U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York.
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