A judge in New York has set a December trial date for Steve Bannon’s role in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising fraud case in court, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Wednesday.
The trial for Bannon, Donald Trump’s former adviser, is scheduled to start Dec. 9, shortly after he is done serving a four-month federal prison term following his conviction on contempt of Congress charges in connection with a House committee’s Jan. 6 investigation.
Reached for comment, Bannon attorney John Carman said his client “appreciates the court’s fairness in permitting a delay that will allow him to contribute to his own defense.”
Bannon was charged in 2022 with defrauding donors who gave money to the nonprofit We Build the Wall group to build a wall at the southern U.S. border. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included money laundering, scheming to defraud and conspiracy.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office successfully prosecuted Trump this year over falsified business statements, opened an investigation into Bannon’s involvement in the alleged scam after Trump pardoned him on charges related to the same scheme by federal prosecutors. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, not state offenses.
Bragg’s office alleges Bannon, a longtime conservative strategist, swindled donors by promising them that the money that was raised would fund a wall along the southern border. Instead, prosecutors say, the money was used to line the pockets of the organization’s president, Brian Kolfage, who is not named in the indictment involving Bannon. Kolfage pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme, the indictment said.
Bannon was aware that the group publicized Kolfage, who told donors that he received “zero dollars of a salary, no compensation,” prosecutors alleged. Bannon echoed those claims in June 2019 at a fundraising event, where he said, “Remember, all the money you give goes to building the wall,” according to court documents.
Kolfage was paid $100,000 upfront and monthly payments of $20,000, amounting to over $250,000 in “secret salary payments,” the indictment alleged. He pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to 51 months in prison in April 2023 for his role in the fundraising scheme.
Bragg said Bannon “acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents” at the time of the indictment.
“It is a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable,” he added.
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