Steve Bannon Arrested on Fraud Charges Concerning a Fundraising Scheme With Three Others

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was  been arrested and charged with defrauding thousands of donors via a campaign “We Build the Wall.”

On Thursday, Bannon, together with three of his associates, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, were indicted by investigators at the U.S. Southern District of New York. They allege that the group defrauded donors and that led to raising “more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States,” based on a press release.

The indictment says that Bannon, through a non-profit, took in over $1 million from the scheme “and at least some of it was used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.”

Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss, and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced an indictment charging Brian Kolfage, Steve Bannon, Andrew Badolato, And Timothy Shea for their roles in defrauding thousands of donors in reference to an online crowdfunding campaign referred to as “We Build the Wall” that raised over $25 million.

The defendants were arrested Thursday morning.  Kolfage will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida, Bannon will be presented today in the Southern District of New York, and  Badolato will be presented today before US Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida.  Shea is to be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado.

The case is assigned to US District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.

The SDNY is a known Trump-hating US Attorney’s office, and I can’t imagine the chosen judge to preside over the case is any better.  In fact, I’m chomping at the bit to hear the other side of the story, which hasn’t become available yet, because it doesn’t sound likely that Bannon or Timothy Shea, a prosecutor and the current Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration are criminally involved in a fraud case.  For all we know a SDNY prosecutor wanted to harm Donald Trump by fudging the facts to get indictments against former and current Trump people.  It’s not like federal prosecutors haven’t done shady things in the past, right?  The timing of this just wreaks of politics.

The US Postal Inspection Service helped in the investigation.

The other three indicted are Timothy Shea, who was announced as the Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration back in May,  Brian Kolfage who is an Iraq war veteran,  and Andrew Badolato.

— THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY —

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