Steve Bannon, former head of strategy at the White House and former ally of President Donald Trump, was arrested this Thursday in New York and faces fraud charges related to the private fund for the construction of the border wall with Mexico.
According to federal prosecutors who brought the charges in federal court in Manhattan, Bannon and four other people illegally moved donor money for the We Build The Wall fundraising campaign .
Bannon's attorney, William Burke , pleaded not guilty on behalf of his client , who received a $ 5 million bond.
Bannon will be released from jail today, although he will be allowed to post bail in two weeks. You will not be able to travel by airplanes or yachts and will have to hand over your passport to the authorities to prevent you from traveling outside the country.
In addition to Bannon, the leaders behind that campaign Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, who "orchestrated a plan to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors , were indicted, " according to the indictment.
He also states that "they received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the We build the wall fund, which they used inconsistently," according to the Boston affiliate of NBC News.
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The campaign, which was launched to raise money for the construction of 3 miles of the border wall in South Texas, raised more than $ 25 million . However, this section was later built by the Fisher Industries company, which was awarded a contract for 2 billion to complete the work, according to the Associated Press agency.
According to prosecutors in a statement, Kolfage "repeatedly and falsely assured donors that he would not take a peso as salary."
Part of the amounts, says the prosecution, would have been used for the personal benefit of the defendants.
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According to prosecutors, Bannon himself had publicly stated that "we are a voluntary organization" and that 100% of the funds raised would be used to build the wall.
However, the charges claim that Bannon and the other defendants falsified invoices and made false arrangements with suppliers to conceal the illegal money movements.
