Steve Bannon, an architect of President Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, was charged with defraud
Steve Bannon, an architect of President Donald Trump's 2016 election victory, was charged with defrauding Trump fans in a campaign to help build his trademark wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, prosecutors said on Thursday.
As a top advisor to Trump's presidential campaign who served as White House chief strategist, Bannon helped articulate the right-wing populism and ferocious resistance to immigration which have helped define Trump's 3-1/2 years in office. Bannon abandoned the White House at August 2017.
Prosecutors stated Bannon received more than $1 million of the money via an undercover nonprofit organization. An attorney for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's signature attempt to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico boundary - a key 2016 campaign promise - has fought amid courtroom challenges, logistical hurdles and opposition from Democrats in Congress.
In the meantime, more than 330,000 fans have donated to private fund-raisers and profiteers who've promised to create the wall on their own, according to a 2019 Reuters investigate here Those efforts likewise have met with limited success.
The indictment comes as Trump paths in opinion polls behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Kolfage took $350,000 for his personal use, according to the indictment. A triple-amputee U.S. Air Force veteran, Kolfage previously conducted a business that made millions of dollars conducting right-wing media websites. He pledged to send donations to the U.S. government when he started the effort in December 2018, but then said he would use the money to employ private contractors and build the wall by themselves.
Kolfage could not immediately be reached for comment. They face up to 40 years .
The donors believed the money would go toward helping build a boundary wall,'' prosecutors said. However, Kolfage, whom they described as the public face and creator of the operation, received tens of thousands of dollars he used to finance a lavish lifestyle.
The fees are being managed by the exact same federal office that prosecuted Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and is exploring his present attorney, Rudolph Giuliani. The office's top prosecutor, Geoffrey Berman, was abruptly ousted by Attorney General William Barr earlier this season.
The charges were announced on precisely the exact same day that Trump faced another legal setback, with a judge dismissing his suit hoping to protect his corporate and personal taxation records from release.
As a top advisor to Trump's presidential campaign who served as White House chief strategist, Bannon helped articulate the right-wing populism and ferocious resistance to immigration which have helped define Trump's 3-1/2 years in office. Bannon abandoned the White House at August 2017.
Prosecutors stated Bannon received more than $1 million of the money via an undercover nonprofit organization. An attorney for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's signature attempt to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico boundary - a key 2016 campaign promise - has fought amid courtroom challenges, logistical hurdles and opposition from Democrats in Congress.
In the meantime, more than 330,000 fans have donated to private fund-raisers and profiteers who've promised to create the wall on their own, according to a 2019 Reuters investigate here Those efforts likewise have met with limited success.
The indictment comes as Trump paths in opinion polls behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden before the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Kolfage took $350,000 for his personal use, according to the indictment. A triple-amputee U.S. Air Force veteran, Kolfage previously conducted a business that made millions of dollars conducting right-wing media websites. He pledged to send donations to the U.S. government when he started the effort in December 2018, but then said he would use the money to employ private contractors and build the wall by themselves.
Kolfage could not immediately be reached for comment. They face up to 40 years .
The donors believed the money would go toward helping build a boundary wall,'' prosecutors said. However, Kolfage, whom they described as the public face and creator of the operation, received tens of thousands of dollars he used to finance a lavish lifestyle.
The fees are being managed by the exact same federal office that prosecuted Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and is exploring his present attorney, Rudolph Giuliani. The office's top prosecutor, Geoffrey Berman, was abruptly ousted by Attorney General William Barr earlier this season.
The charges were announced on precisely the exact same day that Trump faced another legal setback, with a judge dismissing his suit hoping to protect his corporate and personal taxation records from release.