Trump's ex-advisor Bannon charged with fraud over Mexico border wall
Bannon is expected to be presented in federal court in New York later Thursday
Former Trump campaign manager and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was indicted in New York on fraud charges related to a fundraising campaign to build a border wall, federal prosecutors said.
Bannon is among four people indicted for allegedly defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors to the online "We Build the Wall" campaign, reports the NBC.
Manhattan federal prosecutors allege that Bannon, campaign leader Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization's public representations."
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"We Build the Wall" began as a GoFundMe campaign in late 2018, designed to raise money directly from the public to build a border wall in the face of Congressional opposition.
While Kolfage publicly guaranteed that he would not take salary or compensation, and that 100 percent of funds raised would go toward the wall, the indictment alleges he actually took more than $350,000 for personal use and took steps to conceal it.
Bannon is expected to be presented in federal court in New York later Thursday.
The four defendants each face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries up to 20 years in prison.
Bannon becomes the second Trump 2016 campaign manager to face criminal charges. Paul Manafort was convicted of unrelated fraud charges in 2018.
