Here’s a list of Trump’s ex-associates who have faced charges

Bannon, 66, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through a campaign to crowdfund the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The former executive chairman of right-wing news site Breitbart, Bannon was tapped in August 2016 to become chief executive of the Trump campaign. After Trump won the presidential election, Bannon became Trump’s chief White House strategist. He left that role in August 2017.

Bannon and three others – including Brian Kolfage, who spearheaded the “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort – were each indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The counts carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison each, according to a press release from the office. 

“As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth,” said Philip Bartlett, inspector-in-charge of the New York field office, in the press release.

The White House distanced Trump from the alleged crowdfunding scheme. “As everyone knows, President Trump had no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. She cited Trump’s critical tweet from July about the project.

Trump campaign surrogates, including the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, previously applauded the effort to privately fund the wall. A spokeswoman said Thursday that Trump Jr.’s “previous praise of the group was based on what he was led to believe about their supposed intention to help build the wall on our southern border and if he and others were deceived, the group deserves to be held accountable for their actions.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/steve-bannon-arrest-list-of-trumps-ex-associates-who-have-faced-charges.html