Steve Bannon being perp walked in handcuffs in state court in New York: NAJ Screen Shot
“Sloppy” Steve Bannon was perp walked in handcuffs in front of the press into state court in New York on Thursday and charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy for his role in defrauding donors of millions of dollars in a fake online fund raising scheme to allegedly build a wall on the United States border with Mexico to keep immigrants from that country out.
In his final days in the White House, Donald Trump pardoned Bannon on federal charges for the crime after he was charged with the U.S. Department of Justice for misleading donors about how their contributions would be used and pocketing $1 million funneled through a shell non-profit group. But that did not shield him from state charges, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg built a separate case against him, saying he “acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents.”
Bannon was found guilty in July on two counts of contempt of Congress, for refusing to cooperate in the Capitol attack investigation by turning over documents and testifying under oath about what he knew in advance about the seditious conspiracy that led to the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021. He faces sentencing in that case Oct. 21 in Washington, D.C. and could serve from 30 days and up to one year in jail, plus a maximum $1,000 fine on each count.
Trump’s campaign manager in 2016 and his political adviser in the White House for a brief period that first year, Bannon, 68, pleaded not guilty to state charges. Federal prosecutors directly accused Bannon of personally pocketing $1 million from the fundraising scheme, but the 25-page state indictment focuses on his alleged role funneling funds through an unnamed nonprofit to pay the leader of the so-called “We Build the Wall” campaign, violating explicit, repeated pledges to donors that their money would not be used for that purpose.
Bannon was released after the hearing on his own recognizance even though none of the charges in the indictment are eligible for bail in New York. State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan granted a request from prosecutors for Bannon to surrender his passport and barred him from applying for any new travel documents.
David Schoen, one of Bannon’s lawyers, claimed the request wasn’t necessary, since, he said: “He’s not going anyplace. He intends to stay and fight these charges all the way through.”
Before and after the hearing, Bannon told the press he believes the timing of the case is an effort by Democrats to stop him from advocating for Republican candidates in the November midterm elections.
“This is all about 60 days until the day!” he said.
Democrats cheered seeing Bannon in handcuffs, sharing the news all over social media.
Steve Bannon being released from handcuffs in state court in New York: NAJ Screen Shot
Bannon told donors he and his cohorts would “not take a penny” in salary and that all money collected from the site would be spent on wall construction. That president and chief executive of that group who was not named in the indictment was identified in federal proceedings as Brian Kolfage, a disabled veteran and the founder of We Build the Wall.
Kolfage took at least $250,000 of money donated to We Build the Wall in 2019, according to the new indictment. It describes text messages in which Bannon and others allegedly arranged for money to be transferred to the unnamed nonprofit, and from there distributed to Kolfage. The indictment also describes multiple transfers of money from We Build the Wall to the nonprofit, and to another, also unnamed, nonprofit.
Neither Bragg nor New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office worked with Bragg’s on the case, explained why Bannon was not charged directly with keeping money from the fundraising effort, as he was in the federal indictment. James said at a news conference that Bannon “basically stole millions of dollars to line his own pocket and those of other politically connected people.”
The money laundering charges in the indictment carries the biggest potential penalty, up to 15 years in prison, although none of the charges come with mandatory prison time upon conviction.
Because Bannon was granted clemency in the federal case before a conviction, there is not expected to be a viable issue of double jeopardy in his new case.
Three other men charged in the federal case, including Kolfage, were not pardoned. Kolfage and one of the other co-defendants pleaded guilty in federal court. A trial for another alleged participant, Timothy Shea, ended in a mistrial by hung jury in June.
Bragg and James have a pending criminal investigation into Trump and his business practices, while James’s office has a parallel civil probe which could result in a lawsuit that impacts the Trump Organization’s ability to operate.
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