2 Florida Men Arrested With Steve Bannon In Border Wall Scam

SARASOTA, FL — Two Florida men were arrested Thursday along with President Donald Trump's former political adviser, Steve Bannon, and a fourth person stemming from allegations they conspired to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors in a fundraising campaign called "We Build the Wall."

The online campaign raised more than $25 million to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The president told reporters he has not worked with Bannon recently. The four men facing charges were described as leaders of the fundraising campaign.

Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The 56-year-old Badolato, who lives in Sarasota, was expected to appear Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida while the 38-year-old Kolfage of Miramar Beach, Florida, was to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida.

"Kolfage covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall, while Bannon, through a nonprofit organization under his control ... received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which Bannon used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bannon's personal expenses," prosecutors said.

Bannon, 66, was to make his court appearance in the Southern District of New York while Timothy Shea, 49, of Castle Rock, Colorado was to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado.

We Build the Wall originally promoted a project for 3 miles of fence posts in South Texas that was ultimately built and largely funded by Fisher Industries, which has received about $2 billion in funding for wall contracts, according to The Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors said the four assured donors all money would be used on construction but instead much of it was siphoned off. The indictment said Bannon and the others faked invoices and sham “vendor" arrangements to hide what was really happening.

“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," said Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in New York.

"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" Strauss said.

Kolfage reportedly said publicly: “It’s not possible to steal the money,” according to the indictment. “I can’t touch that money. It’s not for me.”

Bannon led the conservative Breitbart News before he was tapped to serve as chief executive officer of Trump’s campaign in its final months. After the election, he served as chief strategist during the turbulent early months of Trump’s administration.

The blunt-spoken, combative Bannon was the voice of a nationalistic, outsider conservatism, and he pushed Trump to follow through on some of his most contentious campaign promises, including his travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries.

However, Bannon clashed with other top advisers, and his high profile sometimes irked Trump, AP reported. He was pushed out of the role in August 2017.

Patch editor Megan VerHelst and Patch Regional Managing Editor Adam Nichols in New York contributed to this report.