Trump's former chief strategist facing fraud charge
US president Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon is facing a fraud charge in relation to an online crowd-funding scheme to raise money to fund a wall between the US and Mexico.
Bannon (pictured) was one of four men arrested after federal prosecutors accused them of defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors to the ‘We Build the Wall’ campaign.
'Secretly schemed'
“As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalising on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretence that all of that money would be spent on construction,” said acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss.
Brian Kolfage, the founder of the campaign, was also arrested, along with Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea.
Prosecutors allege that while the four repeatedly assured donors that Kolfage would not be paid a cent, they secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to him “to fund his lavish lifestyle”.
'Sham invoices'
The four are also accused of hiding their alleged misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege that Kolfage took more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall for his personal use, while Bannon, through a non-profit organisation under his control, received over $1 million from the campaign, at least some of which was used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses.