I do think it's nice to hear that someone is indicting Bannon for something.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2020 12:21 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Steve Bannon Arrested and Charged With Fraud
Over Border Wall Campaign
It's open season on the Ship of State, and the Rats are having a feeding
frenzy. By the way, my uncle in Africa has $100 million he needs to secure in
someone's bank. Please email me for directions.
Honest Carl(Honest Carl's Used Edison's)
On 8/20/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Steve Bannon Arrested and Charged With Fraud Over Border Wall Campaign
By Victoria Bekiempis, Guardian UK
20 August 20
Bannon and three others allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of
donors in connection with 'We Build the Wall'
Former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon was arrested Thursday for
his alleged role in skimming donations from "We Build the Wall", an
online fundraising campaign aimed at gathering funds to construct the
president's controversial border wall, officials said.
Using a non-profit organization that he controlled, Bannon "received
over $1m from We Build the Wall, at least some of which Bannon used to
cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in [his] personal expenses",
federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
Three other men, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, were
also arrested in this alleged scheme to defraud the non-profit, which
authorities said raised more than $25m.
The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan
federal court.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others "orchestrated
a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors" in connection
with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25m to
build a wall along the southern border of the United States.
A phone at the office of Bannon's lawyer went unanswered Thursday morning.
A
spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The Department of Justice's southern district of New York (SDNY) says
that Bannon, and the others were arrested for leading the We Build The
Wall online fundraising campaign that defrauded its many donors.
In a statement, acting US attorney Audrey Strauss said that the fund
capitalized on donors' interest in building a border wall while
instead funneling millions of dollars to fund the "lavish lifestyle"
of "We Build The Wall" founder and public face Brian Kolfage.
Philip Bartlett, inspector in charge, said: "As alleged, not only did
they lie to donors, they 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."
Bartlett added: "This case should serve as a warning to other
fraudsters that no one is above the law, not even a disabled war
veteran or a millionaire political strategist."
The We Build The Wall campaign started in 2018 as a GoFundMe by
Kolfage, a military veteran, who has described some people crossing
the southern border without documents as terrorists and drug
traffickers and accused border wall critics as being cartel
collaborators. The campaign created a video posted on YouTube of
construction of metal barricades to attract anti-immigrant donors to
the campaign.
By spring 2019, the group had raised $22m out of its $1bn goal.
Last year, the campaign was seen by the Guardian building a private
border wall in south Texas despite a court injunction that ordered the
work to be suspended.
Prosecutors alleged that Kolfage "repeatedly and falsely assured the
public that he would 'not take a penny in salary or compensation' and
that '100% of the funds raised . will be used in the execution of our
mission and purpose'".
In a statement, prosecutors pointed out that Bannon publicly proclaimed:
"We're a volunteer organization."
Kolfage, meanwhile, "covertly took for his personal use more than
$350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall". To hide
this, the men "devised a scheme" to direct money siphoned from We
Build the Wall to Kolfage through a non-profit and a shell company
that Shea controlled, using bogus invoices and "sham" vendor
agreements.
The men are facing one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each count has
a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.