Aug. 20 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced criminal charges against former senior White House adviser Steve Bannon and said he was arrested by authorities.
Prosecutors said Bannon and three others bilked political donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as “We Build the Wall,” which raised more than $25 million. The campaign began in 2018 and intended to help pay for President Donald Trump’s promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bannon, who was CEO of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was scheduled to make an initial appearance Thursday in federal court in New York City.
Others charged in the indictment include Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badoloto and Timothy Shea.
In Thursday’s indictment, prosecutors said Bannon personally received more than $1 million from the “We Build the Wall” campaign and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover personal expenses.
“The defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement.
The four men “schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth,” added Inspector-in-Charge Philip Bartlett.
Bannon is the second Trump campaign strategist to face criminal charges. Former manager Paul Manafort was convicted last year as part of the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
Bannon served as Trump’s chief White House adviser for seven months before resigning in August 2017.
