During an initial court appearance in New York later Thursday, Bannon pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be released on bail including a $ 5 million bond to be secured by $ 1.75 million in cash as immovable property. As part of his bail circumstances, he will be prohibited from traveling on private planes, yachts or boats without the permission of the court.
Bannon appeared via video conference, Bannon sported a white face mask, a button-down shirt and a tan.
As he left the federal courthouse, Bannon removed his mask and waved to supporters before confronting a group of reporters.
“This whole failure is to stop people wanting to build the wall,” Bannon said.
The four men were accused of allegedly donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to an online crowdfunding campaign called We Build the Wall for, among other personal expenses. Bannon and another suspect, Brian Kolfage, promised donors that the campaign, which eventually raised more than $ 25 million, was “a voluntary organization” and that “100% of the money raised … will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose, “according to the prosecutor Thursday not unsafe.
Kolfage spent, according to the latest, more than $ 350,000 of donations on personal expenses, including cosmetic surgery, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, boat payments, home renovations, jewelry, personal tax payments and credit card debt.
Bannon, Kolfage and the other two suspects, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, are accused of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money.
Kolfage, Badolato and Shea did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
“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. “
Trump: ‘I feel very bad’
In the hours following Bannon’s arrest, speaking in the White House, Trump said he “felt very bad.”
“Well, I feel very bad. I have not dealt with him for a long time,” Trump said, noting that he was’ involved in our campaign ‘and’ for a small part of the administration very early on. ‘Bannon served in the Trump administration from the inauguration until August 2017.
As for the border wall fundraising project, Trump claimed he knew “nothing” about it and knew the people involved, even though there are other key allies on the board.
“I knew nothing about the project other than I did not like it when I read about it. I did not like it. I said this is for the government, this is not for private people, and it sounded to me like showboating and I think I made my opinion very strong at the time: I did not like it, it was showboating and maybe I was looking for funds, but you will have to see what happens. I think it’s a very sad thing for Mr. Bannon, he said.
Text messages and ‘secret deal’
“Attorneys appear to be checking text messages between Bannon, Badolato and others, which show that the $ 100,000 was intended as a salary for Kolfage, and that Bannon will pay Kolfage another $ 20,000 a month salary in each of the next two months.” , in accordance with the secret deal that Bannon had approved. ”
When Kolfage Badolato texted to say that the group We Build the Wall should disclose payments for the non-profit in their tax return, according to the prosecutor, Badolato replied, “better than you or me lol.”
After Kolfage told Badolato to make the payments to Kolfage’s partner, the nonprofit filed a tax return and said it had paid his spouse for “media”, according to court reports.
In the following months, Kolfage’s secret monthly salary was reportedly passed on by other third party entities who described prosecutors as appointed vendors for We Build the Wall, and eventually through a new shell entity created by Shea to “source” and the nature of the payments, “which Kolfage told Shea they could describe as” social media. “
However, in October 2019, Kolfage, Bannon and Badolato began taking steps to conceal their behavior after learning from a financial institution that We Build the Wall might be under federal criminal investigation, according to the indictment.
At that point, Kolfage and Bannon started using encrypted messaging applications on their phones, Kolfage stopped receiving secret salary payments and a statement on the group’s website saying he did not receive any compensation disappeared, according to the charge. Instead, the website later read that he would receive a salary in early January 2020.
According to a law enforcement official, officials at the Justice Department headquarters were informed of the indictment by Bannon and others, but that person did not indicate when that briefing occurred.
Attorney General William Barr’s abrupt dismissal of then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in June reviewed Barr’s relationship with the New York prosecutor’s office, but department officials said the fire was not related to the treatment of a particular case.
Bannons history with Trump
Bannon had helped run Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, alongside now White House former adviser Kellyanne Conway, and was crowned as a driving force behind Trump’s populist appeal, nationalist ideology and controversial policies.
Before joining Trump’s campaign, Bannon was the former executive chairman of Breitbart, a right-wing news website that deals with infectious headlines, many of them outwardly racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic. Bannon returned to Breitbart after leaving the White House, but left again in 2018.
We Build the Wall controversy
We Build the Wall Inc., a group founded by Air Force veteran Kolfage, gained national attention after raising millions of dollars in a GoFundMe campaign, and launched two private wall projects in New Mexico and Texas. Those projects were built on private land – a strategy that largely protected them from government intervention.
Kolfage has come under scrutiny for its inflammatory rhetoric and promises. Previously, he was accused by some of his donors of compromising and underdelivering. Other allegations against him include clandestine in his operations and unwillingness to disclose certain logistics. He often uses his Twitter account to spare or confront liberal critics. In the past, Kolfage has defended himself against criticism.
He previously told CNN that his group is a “game changer for border security” and “trying to make America safer.”
As of October 2019, the group said it had raised about $ 18.5 million in direct donations, with an additional $ 6 million in planned donations depending on the meeting of “certain milestones”, according to its website. The group said it had more than 500,000 donors.
We Build the Wall has been the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit brought by the North American Butterfly Association, which oversees a 100-acre wild butterfly habitat near the Texas location of the private wall, along the iggen of the Rio Grande.
“We are pleased that the Department of Justice is moving quickly here to stop people like this from benefiting from hatred and distribution,” Javier Peña, a lawyer for the center, told CNN.
The center’s lawsuit alleges that the attempt to break down private walls could cause permanent damage to adjacent properties by altering the flow of surface water.
As part of the lawsuit, the center documented erosion at the base of the private wall in the aftermath of Hurricane Hanna in July. Photos of the walls, viewed by CNN, show cracks in the ground between the wall and the river.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi, Geneva Sands, Evan Perez, Betsy Klein, Christina Carrega, Pete Muntean and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
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