20 August 2020
Steve Bannon, chief strategist to President Donald Trump during the latter’s first year in office, was arrested today and charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of people who donated money for the private construction of sections of wall on the US-Mexican border.
Three other men – Brian Kolf*ge, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea – were also arrested and charged for their alleged roles in what prosecutors claimed was a scam to channel cash from a crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall”, which has raised more than $25m, into their own pockets.
The indictment, unsealed today by the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York (SDNY), said Bannon and Kolf*ge – a triple-amputee Air Force veteran – told donors that no money at all would be spent on salaries or compensation, with Bannon declaring “we’re a volunteer organisation”.
The money was supposed to be spent entirely on designing, building and maintaining sections of wall on private land that filled gaps in the existing southern border wall system.
However, special SDNY agents and the US Postal Inspection Service found evidence suggesting the men siphoned off hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bannon is accused of receiving $1m, some of which prosecutors allege he used for personal expenses, and Kolf*ge is accused of receiving $350,000.
