Former top Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon was criminally charged in New York on Thursday with a scheme to fraudulently funnel and obscure salary payments to the CEO of a non-profit fundraising effort to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said that Bannon “acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents.”
Bragg said that Bannon, “We Build the Wall” Chief Executive Officer Brian Kolfage and others involved in that campaign had repeatedly claimed that Kolfage would not be paid “a penny” for his work.
“But instead of pennies, [Kolfage] received more than $250,000 in a salary fund by donations,” Bragg said.
“At least $140,000 of which, we allege, was laundered by Stephen Bannon,” said Bragg, who spoke several hours after Bannon surrendered at Manhattan Criminal Court to face a grand jury indictment, which also charged WeBuildtheWall Inc.
The district attorney said that Bannon throughout 2019 directed the We Build the Wall campaign to pay a non-profit that Bannon controlled “tens of thousands of dollars at a time.”
“Bannon’s not-for-profit then paid a salary to [Kolfage], thereby obscuring the source of the funds, in direct contradiction to the many promises made by Bannon, We Build the Wall, and other associates in this scheme,” Bragg said.
A handcuffed Bannon, 68, appeared later Thursday in court for arraignment on six criminal counts, which include money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud.
He pleaded not guilty through his lawyer, David Schoen.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/08/trump-white-house-aide-steve-bannon-surrenders-to-face-criminal-charges.html