Trump Pardoned Bannon, But Two of His Associates Just Pleaded Guilty to Defrauding Donors to Border Wall
Two men charged alongside former Trump senior advisor Steve Bannon are set to plead guilty on Thursday on charges they defrauded donors of We Build The Wall, a private fundraising effort to raise money for then-President Donald Trump’s border wall.
“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,” said Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who announced the charges in August 2020.
Bannon was arrested on those charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, in August, but was issued a last-minute pardon by Trump – something the other men charged alongside Bannon were not so lucky to get.
“The organizers of the scheme allegedly defrauded their donors—who raised more than $25 million for the cause—by siphoning money for their own personal use, with Bannon reportedly receiving more than $1 million of the funds,” Forbes reported. The two men pleading guilty are Andrew Badolato, 57, a venture capitalist from Sarasota, Florida, and Brian Kolfage, 40, who is an Air Force veteran from Miramar Beach, Florida.
Video of Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, praising the We Build The Wall project and Kolfage has since gone viral as a reminder of the grift and its connection to Trump-world.
Donald Trump Jr. praised We Build The Wall and Brian Kolfage at a 2018 event: “This is private enterprise at its finest. Doing it better, faster, cheaper than anything else. What you guys are doing is amazing.” pic.twitter.com/hOL25JoZPI
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) August 20, 2020
The New York Times reported Thursday that court filings show the fourth man charged alongside Bannon, Timothy Shea, 51, of Castle Rock, Colorado “had reached a tentative deal to plead guilty, but changed his mind, prosecutors said in a recent court filing. Mr. Shea is scheduled for trial on May 16.”
The defrauding of donors in the name of one of Trump’s key policy issues raised eyebrows across the political spectrum. To add insult to injury the funds taken from the border wall project were reportedly spent by the men on luxury items like jewelry, plastic surgery, and even a golf cart, according to the Times.
