  The campaign
raised more than $25 million but prosecutors say the
four men used hundreds of thousands of dollars in
donor funds
for personal expenses. - Voice of America Journal courtesy photo. |
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 Published Friday, August 21, 2020 International News: Ex-
adviser to U.S. President Trump
charged in alleged fraud scheme By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to the U.S. President Donald Trump, and three other men involved in an online crowdfunding campaign to build part of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border were arrested and charged on Thursday with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors, the Justice Department announced. Bannon, who served as CEO of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later as his top White House strategist, is one of 7 former Trump advisers arrested since Trump took office in 2017. Bannon, along with Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea ran the “We Build the Wall” campaign to raise private funds for a portion of the Trump administration's plan to construct a barrier along the nearly 2,000-mile-long U.S. Mexico border. The campaign raised more than $25 million but prosecutors say the four men used hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds for personal expenses. “As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction," Audrey Strauss, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement announcing the charges. “While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle.” According to a Voice of America Journal report, William Burck, an attorney for Bannon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for the other three defendants could not be immediately reached. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he didn’t like the privately funded project for building part of his wall and that it was “for showboating.” Bannon’s arrest is “a very sad thing” and “surprising,” Trump said, adding that he didn’t know the others involved in the fundraising campaign. Dubbed "We the People Build the Wall," the fundraiser was launched by Kolfage, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Trump supporter, in December 2018 at a time when Trump was unable to secure billions of dollars from Congress to make good on a key campaign pledge to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. With an initial goal of raising $1 billion, the GoFundMe campaign promised to give the donated money to the Trump administration for the purpose of building the wall. The fundraising initiative was initially praised by Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as “private enterprise at its finest,” but the president later sought to distance himself from the project. In a statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “As everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and felt it was only being done in order to showboat, and perhaps raise funds.” ---------------------- What other adviser or former adviser do you think should be investigated? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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