Steve Bannon was arrested at 7:30 a.m. Thursday near Westbrook, Connecticut, on the yacht of exiled Chinese dissident Guo Wengui, according to two law enforcement officials.
FROM:
3:08 p.m. ET, August 20, 2020
Bannon arrested on exiled Chinese dissident's yacht, law enforcement officials say
From CNN's Kara Scannell
***
“Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was charged Thursday in New York with defrauding donors who were giving money to build a wall at the southern U.S. border.
Bannon, 68, was indicted on charges including money laundering, scheming to defraud, and conspiracy in what prosecutors described as a yearlong scheme. He pleaded not guilty in a brief arraignment before acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and agreed to surrender his passports as a condition of his bail. Supreme Court is the name of New York’s principal criminal court.
“He’s not going anywhere. He intends to fight these charges all the way,” Bannon's attorney David Schoen told the judge.
The six-count indictment also names the group WeBuildTheWall.Inc, which it says worked with Bannon on the scheme in 2019. Bannon was chair of the "advisory board" for the group, which prosecutors say duped thousands of donors by maintaining that all the money raised would go to build a wall along the southern border and not to the people running the effort.
The group's president, Brian Kolfage, who is not named in the indictment, pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the scheme, the filing alleges. Some of the money was routed to him by Bannon, who had money from the campaign transferred to a nonprofit group under Bannon's control and then used the cash to pay Kolfage $140,000, the indictment alleges.
Prosecutors allege that Bannon was well aware that the group was publicizing that Kolfage was telling donors "I’m taking zero dollars of a salary, no compensation" and that Bannon had echoed the claims himself.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin 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."
“It is a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable,” Bragg said. He said later at a news conference that if he is convicted, Bannon faces a maximum of five to 15 years in prison.
State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office teamed up with the district attorney in the probe, said that Bannon "took advantage of his donors’ political views to secure millions of dollars which he then misappropriated" and that he "lied to his donors to enrich himself and his friends.”
FROM:
NBC NEWS
Steve Bannon charged with money laundering, conspiracy in ‘We Build the Wall’ fundraising fraud case
The former Trump strategist pleaded not guilty after he was arraigned on the six-count indictment Thursday afternoon.
By Dareh Gregorian and Tom Winter
Sept. 8, 2022, 10:04 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 8, 2022, 3:00 PM EDT
***
“Guo — also known as Ho Wan Kwok and Miles Guo — is standing trial on federal racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud charges. If convicted, the Chinese businessman and media mogul could face more than 200 years in prison or be deported to China, where he is wanted on accusations of rape, kidnapping and bribery.
Prosecutors say that Guo, whose media partnership with Steve Bannon made him a prevalent figure in the MAGA movement, built a fraud empire worth more than $1 billion.
Li testified that, as Guo circulated his various memberships, cryptocurrencies and stocks to his supporters, all of the real currency his followers used to participate in the makeshift economy went back to Guo. Several witnesses have already testified that they lost tens of thousands of dollars as a result.
Li’s job was to gather money by managing online groups called "farms" that supported Guo. She said Thursday that she raised millions of dollars from investors for Guo’s business ventures, including GTV, the online video platform Li founded with Bannon, and G CLUBS, Guo’s membership program for those in his anti-communist movement the New China Federation.”
FROM:
COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Guo Wengui’s former ‘farm’ manager testifies that his ‘whole movement is a scam’
Guo, a business associate to Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon, is standing trial on federal charges of racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud in a supposed $1 billion scheme to defraud his supporters.
ERIK UEBELACKER / June 6, 2024
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