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Bannon surrenders to New York authorities to face sealing charges


Stephen K. Bannon, a one-time political adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, is expected to surrender on Thursday to New York authorities to face state charges in an indictment. remains sealed, according to a person familiar with the case.

The nature of the charges was not clear early Wednesday. But Mr Bannon called them “fakes” in a statement reported by NBC News. “They’re coming after all of us,” he said. “I haven’t started fighting yet.”

Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for Alvin Bragg, a Manhattan district attorney, declined to comment.

The charges will not be Mr. Bannon’s first indictment. Mr. Trump pardon for Mr. Bannon in January 2021 before he could be brought to trial on federal fraud charges stemming from his work with We Build the Wall Inc., a fundraising operation set up to help fulfill the former president’s promise to create a physical barrier between the United States and Mexico.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, led by Cyrus R. Vance Jr. top, start your own investigation after a presidential pardon, covers only federal crimes. The new indictment is first reported by The Washington Post.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Bannon and three other men in 2020 rigged We Build the Wall sponsors, aiming to build at least 100 miles of fences on private land.

Authorities said Mr. Bannon hatched a scheme to defraud donors with three other men: Brian Kolfage, an Air Force veteran and amputee from Miramar Beach, Fla; Andrew Badolato, a venture capitalist from Sarasota, Fla; and Timothy Shea, an entrepreneur from Castle Rock, Colo.

They are accused of taking money for personal expenses such as hotels, credit card bills and buying jewelry, golf carts and luxury SUVs for personal expenses.

Mr. Kolfage and Mr. Badolato pleaded guilty in April to expose the fraud plot in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Kolfage also pleaded guilty to tax-related charges.

Federal Judge declare a mistake Shea in June after jurors reported an impasse, saying one juror spoke of a “government witch hunt” and refused to consider the evidence. Damian Williams, a US attorney in Manhattan, said he plans to try the case again.

We Build the Wall has been popularized in Instagram and Twitter posts brag relationship with Mr. Trump. It is also promote by Donald Trump Jr. and assembled an advisory board of right-wing figures. They include David Clarke, the former sheriff of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin; Kris Kobach, former secretary of state for Kansas; and Erik Prince, founder of the private military company Blackwater, now known as Academi.

Few ideas excite Trump supporters like creating a physical barrier at the border. The sutra of “build that wall” resounded in demonstrations. Many supporters see the structure as the embodiment of Trump’s “America First” policy.

We Build the Wall was created to promote the administration, which eventually built about 450 miles of a wall along the border.

Mr. Kolfage has launched a GoFundMe campaign to further the effort. Prosecutors say he raised about $17 million in a week with Mr. Shea’s help. But GoFundMe suspended the campaign, saying it would return the donation unless Kolfage found a nonprofit group to manage it, prosecutors said.

Soon after, Mr. Bannon and Mr. Badolato, who are working for a nonprofit that promotes economic nationalism and American sovereignty, joined the campaign.

That led to the formation of We Build the Wall. Most of the donors who supported the GoFundMe campaign passed their money to the new team, and by the end of 2019, We Build the Wall had raised about $25 million.

According to an indictment, Mr. Bannon’s nonprofit transferred money from We Build the Wall to Mr. Kolfage and presented a fake IRS 1099 form saying it paid his spouse for “media “. Mr. Shea created an anonymous company that received payments from We Build the Wall, the indictment said, kept some and passed some on to Mr. Kolfage, saying it was for “social networking” accounts and pages. festival”.

In total, federal prosecutors say, Kolfage received more than $350,000 from We Build the Wall. They said Mr. Badolato and Mr. Shea each received hundreds of thousands of dollars.





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