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PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Steve Bannon on fugitive Chinese billionaire's 150-foot superyacht hours before he was arrested with military plane overhead: Donald Trump's aide is charged with crowd-funded border wall scam - and president says arrest is 'SAD'
PUBLISHED: 09:49 EDT, 20 August 2020 | UPDATED: 16:11 EDT, 20 August 2020
Former Donald Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon was arrested aboard a superyacht owned by a Chinese national and charged Thursday with defrauding hundreds of thousands of people as part of a group pledging to use private donations to build a section of border wall.
The circumstances of his arrest – Bannon was on board the 150-foot yacht the Lady May owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui in Long Island Sound, off the Connecticut coast, NBC News first reported – provided an odd twist that had a onetime top advisor to the president facing charges of helping swindle contributors by funneling charity donations to one of his partners and funding a 'lavish' lifestyle.
DailyMail.com obtained the last photographs of Bannon, hours before federal agents seized him in a dramatic arrest, checking his phone on the $35 million yacht just off Westbrook, CT.
The source who shot the photos said: 'We saw the yacht come in on Tuesday night and the next day we saw a C-130 military plane circle over it, today there were more Coastguard military planes all around it.'
Chinese authorities have accused Wengui of fraud. He has been pictured with Bannon aboard the megayacht, and this summer they were behind an effort to declare a new 'Federal State of New China' that flew flags towed by planes around New York Harbor.
Bannon helped make confronting China a centerpiece of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, a posture the president has continued into his tenure in office. Another key tenet of that election was building a wall on the southern border that Trump said Mexico – not the U.S. government – would pay for.
The We Build The Wall scheme raised $25 million to fund its own barriers in Texas and New Mexico, some of which have been built. The group's online appeal for funds included a picture of President Trump and a stamp that said 'Trump Approved.' His son Don Jr. visited one section in Sunland Park, New Mexico, in July 2019.
But prosecutors say it was a scam: donors' cash was also funneled to its founder Brian Kolfage and to Bannon.
Bannon, who helped steer Trump's campaign then joined him in the White House in 2017 as chief strategist only to be forced out, is accused of getting $1 million in the alleged scheme, spending hundreds of thousands of that on 'expenses.
House before his arrest: Steve Bannon, wearing his distinctive two shirts, was on deck checking his phone hours before federal agents, with a C-130 plane overhead, arrested him
Luxury: The Cayman Islands-registered Lady May where Steve Bannon was seized
The group's founder, Kolfage, is also accused of fraudulently pocketing funds. He claimed he did not get a cent from the scheme but instead got $100,000 up front and $20,000 a month salary, prosecutors allege, living a lavish lifestyle at Miramar Beach in the Florida panhandle.
Kolfage, an Iraq war veteran who had both legs amputated and lost his right arm in a rocket attack, was arrested at his home in Florida.
At the White House Trump denied knowing anything about the scheme and tried to distance himself from his former campaign manager.
'I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a very long period of time,' he said in the Oval Office, adding: 'I haven't been dealing with him at all. It's a very sad thing by Mr. Bannon.'
'He was involved in our campaign and for a small part of our administration.' In fact Bannon was the campaign CEO for its last 88 days after the ousting of Paul Manafort - who is now a convicted felon himself - and then was Trump's 'Chief Strategist,' with a West Wing office close to the Oval Office.
He also tried to distance himself from the scheme despite its ties to his inner circle, saying: 'I don't like that project. I thought it was being done for showboating reasons. It was something I very much thought was inappropriate to be doing.'
The stunning indictment of a top former Trump advisor comes on Day Four of the Democratic convention, when Joe Biden is set to speak.
'No one needed a federal indictment to know that Steve Bannon is a fraud,' said Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield on a conference call with reporters.
Trump, she said, 'has consistently used his office to enrich himself, his family and his cronies, so is it really any surprise that yet another one of the grifters he surrounded himself with and placed in the highest levels of government was just indicted? Sadly, it is not.'
Together on the yacht: This is Steven Bannon on the Lady May with its owner Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese billionaire who has declared his own new government of China. The 150ft vessel was off Connecticut when he was taken into custody
Live from the yacht - before the feds arrived: Steve Bannon took part in his 'war room' podcast from the Lady May on Wednesday. He was in federal custody and on his way to court the following morning
Seized: This is the Lady May off the Connecticut coast Thursday after the arrest of Steve Bannon.
'Sad.' Donald Trump, who met Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at the White House, tried to distance himself both from Bannon - saying he had not dealt with him for a long time - and the wall scheme, despite its ties to his family and inner circle
Where it is: The Lady May is position just off Westport, CT, where it was boarded by federal agents who removed Steve Bannon
How it was marketed: This was the GoFundMe originally set up to 'privately fund' a border wall
Husband and wife scam: Prosecutors say Brian Kolfage funneled cash to himself to pay for boat payments, cosmetic surgery and tax and credit card debt, with his wife Ashley, 34, getting cash which was concealed too. She is not indicted
Trump world star: Donald Trump Jr. visited a section of the wall built by Brian Kolfage's scheme in New Mexico in July 2019
The investigation did not involve the FBI - but did involve the U.S. Postal Inspectors. It was led by prosecutors from the public corruption unit of the United States Attorney's office in Southern News York - the same unit which charged Jeffrey Esptein and arrested Ghislaine Maxwell.
The high-profile arrest raised immediate questions of whether main Justice Department officials were aware of the investigation into a one-time top advisor to the president.
Attorney General Bill Barr told the Associated Press he first learned of the probe several months ago but has not gotten regular briefings on the case.
Prosecutors say the group promised donors it was a volunteer effort that would direct all funds toward a crash effort to construct wall without government red tape. In reality, say federal prosecutors in New York, the group's founders siphoned off funds for themselves.
'As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction,' according to the indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York Thursday morning.
'While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,' according to the indictment.
'In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, Kolfage repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would 'not take a penny in salary or compensation' and that '100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose' because, as Bannon publicly stated, 'we're a volunteer organization.'
The indictment states that Kolfage, 37, who lives in Miramar Beach, Florida, with his wife Ashley, 34, 'covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall' through a non-profit he controlled.
It states that Bannon, 66, who became wealthy through film investments, consulting, and formerly running the conservative Breitbart website, 'received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which Bannon used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bannon's personal expenses.'
Postal Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett: 'As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth.'
The indictment says the alleged fraudsters used a non-profit and a shell company controlled by Kolfage.
They used fake invoices, sham vendors as part of the effort, keeping the system 'confidential' and 'need to know,' according to the indictment, which quotes from a Kolfage email.
More .....
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rested-INDICTED-multi-million-wall-fraud.html
- Steve Bannon, once Donald Trump's most trusted aide, is arrested on a 150-foot yacht off the Connecticut coast and is due in court accused of being part of massive fraud scheme
- He is alleged to have ripped off the We Build The Wall scheme which planned to build a crowd-sourced border wall
- They raised money claiming the idea was 'Trump approved' and took in $20 million on GoFundMe before being kicked off the platform, then $5m more
- 'Non-profit' told hundreds of thousands of donors the people behind it were volunteers but secretly were being paid, feds say
- Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say he helped run scheme which funneled donations to its co-founders
- Some of the cash has built sections of wall - and Donald Trump Jr. and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle took part in a fundraiser; first son now claims he too was 'deceived'
- Bannon received $1 million and kept hundreds of thousands for his personal expenses
- Yacht, the Lady May, belongs to dissident Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and Bannon broadcast a podcast interview from it Wednesday - with Kolfage
- Massive amounts of cash went to Brian Kolfage, the triple amputee co-founder who prosecutors say spent it on his lavish lifestyle
- Kolfage used the money he received on home renovations, boat payments, an SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, tax and credit card debt
- His wife Ashley, 34, received cash too and posted on instagram about their lifestyle and said Thursday that Kolfage, 38, was on his way back home
- All four indicted men face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
PUBLISHED: 09:49 EDT, 20 August 2020 | UPDATED: 16:11 EDT, 20 August 2020
Former Donald Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon was arrested aboard a superyacht owned by a Chinese national and charged Thursday with defrauding hundreds of thousands of people as part of a group pledging to use private donations to build a section of border wall.
The circumstances of his arrest – Bannon was on board the 150-foot yacht the Lady May owned by Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui in Long Island Sound, off the Connecticut coast, NBC News first reported – provided an odd twist that had a onetime top advisor to the president facing charges of helping swindle contributors by funneling charity donations to one of his partners and funding a 'lavish' lifestyle.
DailyMail.com obtained the last photographs of Bannon, hours before federal agents seized him in a dramatic arrest, checking his phone on the $35 million yacht just off Westbrook, CT.
The source who shot the photos said: 'We saw the yacht come in on Tuesday night and the next day we saw a C-130 military plane circle over it, today there were more Coastguard military planes all around it.'
Chinese authorities have accused Wengui of fraud. He has been pictured with Bannon aboard the megayacht, and this summer they were behind an effort to declare a new 'Federal State of New China' that flew flags towed by planes around New York Harbor.
Bannon helped make confronting China a centerpiece of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, a posture the president has continued into his tenure in office. Another key tenet of that election was building a wall on the southern border that Trump said Mexico – not the U.S. government – would pay for.
The We Build The Wall scheme raised $25 million to fund its own barriers in Texas and New Mexico, some of which have been built. The group's online appeal for funds included a picture of President Trump and a stamp that said 'Trump Approved.' His son Don Jr. visited one section in Sunland Park, New Mexico, in July 2019.
But prosecutors say it was a scam: donors' cash was also funneled to its founder Brian Kolfage and to Bannon.
Bannon, who helped steer Trump's campaign then joined him in the White House in 2017 as chief strategist only to be forced out, is accused of getting $1 million in the alleged scheme, spending hundreds of thousands of that on 'expenses.
House before his arrest: Steve Bannon, wearing his distinctive two shirts, was on deck checking his phone hours before federal agents, with a C-130 plane overhead, arrested him
Luxury: The Cayman Islands-registered Lady May where Steve Bannon was seized
The group's founder, Kolfage, is also accused of fraudulently pocketing funds. He claimed he did not get a cent from the scheme but instead got $100,000 up front and $20,000 a month salary, prosecutors allege, living a lavish lifestyle at Miramar Beach in the Florida panhandle.
Kolfage, an Iraq war veteran who had both legs amputated and lost his right arm in a rocket attack, was arrested at his home in Florida.
At the White House Trump denied knowing anything about the scheme and tried to distance himself from his former campaign manager.
'I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a very long period of time,' he said in the Oval Office, adding: 'I haven't been dealing with him at all. It's a very sad thing by Mr. Bannon.'
'He was involved in our campaign and for a small part of our administration.' In fact Bannon was the campaign CEO for its last 88 days after the ousting of Paul Manafort - who is now a convicted felon himself - and then was Trump's 'Chief Strategist,' with a West Wing office close to the Oval Office.
He also tried to distance himself from the scheme despite its ties to his inner circle, saying: 'I don't like that project. I thought it was being done for showboating reasons. It was something I very much thought was inappropriate to be doing.'
The stunning indictment of a top former Trump advisor comes on Day Four of the Democratic convention, when Joe Biden is set to speak.
'No one needed a federal indictment to know that Steve Bannon is a fraud,' said Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield on a conference call with reporters.
Trump, she said, 'has consistently used his office to enrich himself, his family and his cronies, so is it really any surprise that yet another one of the grifters he surrounded himself with and placed in the highest levels of government was just indicted? Sadly, it is not.'
Together on the yacht: This is Steven Bannon on the Lady May with its owner Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese billionaire who has declared his own new government of China. The 150ft vessel was off Connecticut when he was taken into custody
Live from the yacht - before the feds arrived: Steve Bannon took part in his 'war room' podcast from the Lady May on Wednesday. He was in federal custody and on his way to court the following morning
Seized: This is the Lady May off the Connecticut coast Thursday after the arrest of Steve Bannon.
'Sad.' Donald Trump, who met Iraqi prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at the White House, tried to distance himself both from Bannon - saying he had not dealt with him for a long time - and the wall scheme, despite its ties to his family and inner circle
Where it is: The Lady May is position just off Westport, CT, where it was boarded by federal agents who removed Steve Bannon
How it was marketed: This was the GoFundMe originally set up to 'privately fund' a border wall
Husband and wife scam: Prosecutors say Brian Kolfage funneled cash to himself to pay for boat payments, cosmetic surgery and tax and credit card debt, with his wife Ashley, 34, getting cash which was concealed too. She is not indicted
Trump world star: Donald Trump Jr. visited a section of the wall built by Brian Kolfage's scheme in New Mexico in July 2019
The investigation did not involve the FBI - but did involve the U.S. Postal Inspectors. It was led by prosecutors from the public corruption unit of the United States Attorney's office in Southern News York - the same unit which charged Jeffrey Esptein and arrested Ghislaine Maxwell.
The high-profile arrest raised immediate questions of whether main Justice Department officials were aware of the investigation into a one-time top advisor to the president.
Attorney General Bill Barr told the Associated Press he first learned of the probe several months ago but has not gotten regular briefings on the case.
Prosecutors say the group promised donors it was a volunteer effort that would direct all funds toward a crash effort to construct wall without government red tape. In reality, say federal prosecutors in New York, the group's founders siphoned off funds for themselves.
'As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction,' according to the indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York Thursday morning.
'While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,' according to the indictment.
'In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, Kolfage repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would 'not take a penny in salary or compensation' and that '100% of the funds raised . . . will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose' because, as Bannon publicly stated, 'we're a volunteer organization.'
The indictment states that Kolfage, 37, who lives in Miramar Beach, Florida, with his wife Ashley, 34, 'covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall' through a non-profit he controlled.
It states that Bannon, 66, who became wealthy through film investments, consulting, and formerly running the conservative Breitbart website, 'received over $1 million from We Build the Wall, at least some of which Bannon used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bannon's personal expenses.'
Postal Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett: 'As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth.'
The indictment says the alleged fraudsters used a non-profit and a shell company controlled by Kolfage.
They used fake invoices, sham vendors as part of the effort, keeping the system 'confidential' and 'need to know,' according to the indictment, which quotes from a Kolfage email.
More .....
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rested-INDICTED-multi-million-wall-fraud.html
