Trial date set for Steve Bannon’s ‘We Build the Wall’ fraud case
Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign strategist and later the president’s senior counselor and chief White House strategist, was arrested on August 20 along with several of his cronies following an alleged “scheme to defraud donors funding Trump’s proposed wall on the border with Mexico.”
Bannon and three associates, Timothy Shea, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, are accused of defrauding donors as they raised “more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.”
Federal prosecutors have said that Bannon received $1 million in funds from We Build the Wall and that to divert these funds he created a separate nonprofit whose ostensible purpose was “promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty.” ~ CNBC
Bannon left his gig at the White House in August of 2017 after being asked to resign by then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
At a court arraignment earlier today, federal Judge Analisa Torres decreed that Bannon and his three co-defendants will begin their trial “on charges of defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors to a private campaign to build a southern border wall,” on May 24, 2021.
Prosecutors in the case have stipulated that Bannon pocketed upwards of $1 million of the monies collected from his We Build the Wall organization.
Bannon and Kolfage used hundreds of thousands of dollars of that money to cover personal expenses, according to the charges.
Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea all pleaded not guilty at a virtual hearing on Monday. They were granted bail and will surrender their passports. Bannon, 66, pleaded not guilty earlier this month. ~ U.S. News
Bannon and his cohorts are each charged with one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud, and a single count of conspiring to commit money laundering. Each of those counts carries a max sentence of 20 years behind bars. Prosecutors are expected to push for jail sentences of 11 to 14 years, according to NBC News.
Following his arrest on August 20 and after being freed on $5 million bail, USA Today quoted Bannon as shouting, “This entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.”
Since 2012, Bannon has served as the executive chairman for the conservative web site Breitbart.com, largely regarded by its critics as a site promoting “racist, misogynist, and xenophobic” viewpoints.
For more on Bannon’s court case, see the video accompanying this article.
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
