The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ex-White House adviser arrested on fraud charges
Steve Bannon alleged to have scammed thousands of donors to fundraising scheme to build Mexico wall
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has been arrested on charges that he and three others ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme called We Build The Wall.
The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that alleged Bannon received more than $1 million (£760,000) himself, using some to secretly pay a co-defendant, Brian Kolfage, and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars of Bannon’s personal expenses.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25m (£19m) to build a wall along the southern border of the United States.
A spokeswoman for Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the indictment, Bannon promised that 100% of the donated money would be used for the project, but the defendants collectively used hundreds of thousands of dollars in a manner inconsistent with the organisation’s public representations.
The indictment said they faked invoices and sham “vendor” arrangements, among other ways, to hide what was really happening.
Bannon is among a list of former Trump associates who have found themselves under indictment or in jail, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
An immigration plan unveiled by Mr Trump last year had included a proposal to allow public donations to pay for his long-promised southern border wall.
At that point, the GoFundMe campaign launched by war veteran Brian Kolfage had raised more than $20m for wall construction.
Yesterday, Mr Trump told reporters that he knew nothing about the project and never believed in a privately financed barrier.
“I thought that was a project being done for showboating reasons,” he said.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany also weighed in, saying that Mr Trump “has not been involved with Steve Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the administration, and he does not know the people involved with this project”.
The defendants learned last October from a financial institution that the We Build The Wall campaign might be under federal criminal investigation and took additional steps to conceal the fraud, according to the indictment.