Steve Bannon, middle, is proven in court docket Thursday in New York.
Steve Bannon has acquired a Might 2024 trial date for his function in a fundraiser to construct a wall on the U.S. southern border.
Throughout a brief court docket listening to Thursday, a New York decide mentioned the trial would go forward on Might 27 of subsequent yr. As Bannon was exiting the courthouse, he instructed reporters, “See you again right here in Might.”
Prosecutors allege that Bannon, who served as former President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, and others defrauded donors after they arrange a fundraiser in late 2018 below a company referred to as We Construct the Wall.
The fundraiser, which introduced in additional than $25 million for a U.S.-Mexico border barrier, was “based mostly on false guarantees,” in accordance with the workplace of Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg, which additionally accused Bannon of “laundering the proceeds of that scheme with the intention to advance and conceal the fraud.”
In September 2022, Bannon turned himself in to authorities. In accordance with the Manhattan DA’s workplace, Bannon and others had mentioned that not one of the donations would go towards the wage of Brian Kolfage, who co-founded We Construct the Wall. Nevertheless, greater than $250,000 went to Kolfage in 2019, the DA’s workplace mentioned.
Prosecutors have additionally alleged that Kolfage spent donated funds on a automotive, jewellery and beauty surgical procedure, amongst different issues.
Bannon acquired greater than $1 million from the fundraiser to cowl his private bills, in accordance with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York.
“It’s a crime to show a revenue by mendacity to donors, and in New York, you’ll be held accountable,” Bragg mentioned in 2022 information launch. “Stephen Bannon acted because the architect of a multi-million greenback scheme to defraud 1000’s of donors throughout the nation – together with tons of of Manhattan residents.”
Throughout his presidency, Trump pardoned Bannon for his function within the scheme, however that didn’t excuse him from state-level costs.