NEW YORK — Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon turned himself in at the Manhattan district attorney’s office Thursday to face money laundering and fraud charges in connection to the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scheme.
The rabble-rousing right-wing political strategist previously faced federal charges for the crowdfunding scheme, for which former President Donald Trump pardoned him during a clemency blitz in his final hours in office. The pardon did not spare Bannon from state prosecution.
Bannon arrived at the lower Manhattan courthouse in a black SUV with tinted windows around 9:05 a.m. and cracked jokes before heading inside. He has accused New York authorities of charging him for political reasons ahead of the midterms.
The indictment obtained by the Daily News names Bannon and We Build the Wall Inc., as defendants and charges both with two counts of money laundering, three counts of conspiracy and one count of scheme to defraud.
“It is a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said.
“As alleged, Stephen Bannon acted as the architect of a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents. Each and every day, my office works to ensure that when New Yorkers hand over money, they know where it’s going and who it’s going to — without any smokescreens or false promises,” Bragg said.
The charges resulted from joint investigative work with the state attorney general’s office.
Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, two of four men charged in the August 2020 federal case with Bannon — who Trump did not pardon — pleaded guilty in April. The fourth man, Colorado businessman Timothy Shea, saw his case end in a mistrial in June after a holdout juror alleged a government “witch hunt.” Shea is set to go back on trial next month.
The “Build the Wall” fundraiser launched in late 2018 sought to elicit donations from Trump supporters to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It promised 100% of funds would go toward its construction and raised almost $17 million in its first week, according to federal court records.
Air Force veteran and triple amputee Kolfage, who was the fund’s president and poster boy, said in a 2019 interview that he “would have to be the stupidest person in the world” to mismanage the donations “with everyone watching me.”
“I mean we see it all the time, but this is on like a (grandiose) scale of, you know, what not to do with the money, and I made sure that we were good stewards to it and followed through on that promise,” Kolfage is quoted as saying in the state indictment.
In reality, prosecutors say Bannon and others had secretly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, who is referred to in the charging documents as “Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1.” That included a $250,000 transfer in February 2019, according to the indictment.
In July, Bannon was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. He faces up to two years in federal prison when sentenced next month.
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