Bannon was arrested Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bannon’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bannon will make his first court appearance in New York later Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The four men are accused of proving that they have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group called We Build the Wall and among other things the funds for personal expenses.
According to prosecutors, through a nonprofit identified as nonprofit-1, Bannon used more than $ 1 million from We Build the Wall to secretly pay another suspect, Brian Kolfage, and cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal Bannon expenses. .
Bannon, Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea are accused of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
“Like everyone else, the suspects defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing their interest in financing a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all that money would be spent on construction,” U.S. Attorney General Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “While donors repeatedly warned that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public figure of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the suspects secretly pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to make his generous to finance lifestyle. “
Alyssa Farah, the director of the White House of Strategic Communications, declined Thursday morning to comment on the charge.
This story is broken and will be updated.
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