This is the kind of information Donald Trump would have done well without. Steve Bannon is indicted by the New York justice for fraud, accused, with accomplices, of having embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars officially collected to build the wall on the Mexican border. Steve Bannon is none other than the controversial ex-strategic advisor to the president, sacked by the latter in August 2017. He was also the director of the conspiracy and supremacist site Breitbart News. Become pariah of Donald Trump, accused of having fueled a war of the clans in the heart of the White House, he was for a long time very close to it.
Read also: Stephen Bannon kicked out of the White House
Fictitious accounts
Steve Bannon is accused with three accomplices of defrauding donors while they were responsible for an online fundraiser, on the GoFundMe platform, on behalf of the organization We Build The Wall. Building a wall between the United States and Mexico to curb migration and drug trafficking was one of Donald Trump’s main promises. Steve Bannon and his accomplices managed to collect $ 25 million, recalls New York justice. They were arrested Thursday morning in Florida, Colorado and New York.
According to Manhattan Federal Attorney Audrey Strauss, “the defendants swindled hundreds of thousands of donors to raise millions of dollars, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall, under the pretext that all that money would be spent on construction. “. “While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a dime, the defendants secretly plotted to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, who ‘he used to finance his lavish lifestyle’, she adds in a press release. They allegedly covered up their embezzlement by “creating fictitious invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes”. According to the indictment, Steve Bannon allegedly received over $ 1 million from We Build the Wall and used “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to cover “personal expenses”. He and his accomplices face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The embezzlement reportedly started in December 2018.
From the White House, Donald Trump immediately reacted by saying that he was not aware of the case. He added that he had not had contact with Steve Bannon “for a very long time”. And not to have been in favor of raising private funds for his wall. In July 2019, however, one of his sons, Donald Trump Jr, said the opposite during a visit to New Mexico.
Steve Bannon is known for forging strong links with American and European far-right movements, which has earned him the title of Michael Bloomberg, former presidential candidate, as “the most dangerous man in politics. American ”. In February 2017, the Time had devoted his one to him, with the title “The great manipulator”, to evoke the influence he exerted on Donald Trump. A title that makes perfect sense today.
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