2 plead guilty in 'We Build The Wall' fraudulent fundraiser

NEW YORK (AP) — The co-founder of the “We Build The Wall” project aimed at raising money for a border wall pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in a case that once included former President Donald Trump's adviser Steve Bannon.

Brian Kolfage admitted to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars while promising all donations would pay for the wall. His plea came a month before a trial in a case that began in dramatic fashion in August 2020, when Bannon was pulled from a luxury yacht off the coast of Connecticut and arrested on allegations that he and three others ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall.

Bannon was pardoned by Trump just before he left office last year. Bannon had pleaded not guilty to charges he pocketed over $1 million, using some of the money to secretly pay Kolfage, a 39-year-old Air Force veteran who lost both legs in a mortar attack in Iraq.

A guilty plea Thursday by codefendant financier Andrew Badolato, 57, in the case during the same remotely conducted electronic hearing before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan meant that only one of the four defendants originally charged might go to trial in mid-may.

Plea agreements between the government and Kolfage and Badolato specified the defendants will not challenge sentences within an agreed-to guidelines range. For Kolfage, that range was four to five years. For Badolato, it was roughly 3 1/2 years to four years. Sentencing was scheduled for Sept. 6.

Kolfage, of Miramar Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and tax charges brought originally in Florida. Badolato, of Sarasota, Florida, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Without the plea deal, Kolfage could have faced up to 46 years in prison while Badolato faced a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

The organizers of the “We Build The Wall” group raised more than $25 million from thousands of donors as they repeatedly pledged that every dollar would be used for the project.

Asked to describe his crimes by the judge, Kolfage said the group had originally intended for all the raised money to be used to build a wall, but it “soon became apparent” that the plan to donate the money to the U.S. government for the wall's construction was not possible.

At that point, he said, they “induced donors to opt in to the new project” to build a border wall on private land by falsely representing that none of the donations would be spent on salaries or compensation to the fundraisers.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong and a crime,” he said.