The Founders of the popular “We Build the Wall” movement have been indicted on fraud charges by the US Government today, in a bombshell indictment.
Manhattan federal prosecutors allege that Bannon, campaign leader Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea “received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations.”
“We Build the Wall” began as a GoFundMe campaign in late 2018, designed to raise money directly from the public to build a border wall in the face of Congressional opposition.
While Kolfage publicly guaranteed that he would not take salary or compensation, and that 100 percent of funds raised would go toward the wall, the indictment alleges he actually took more than $350,000 for personal use and took steps to conceal it.
A non-profit controlled by Bannon received another $1 million of the money, some of which went to cover various of his personal expenses, the government alleges.
A non-profit controlled by Bannon received another $1 million of the money, some of which went to cover various of his personal expenses, the government alleges.
After finding out last October that their fundraising campaign might be under federal investigation, the defendants took steps to hide their activity even further, including the use of encrypted messaging, the indictment says.
You can read more from our friends at NBC New York.
Well I donated $$ to this project and if Brian Kolfage had stated that he would receive a stipend for his efforts on the project, I would still have done so. Is “full disclosure” a thing of the past?