Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was arrested on Thursday after being charged with defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors through his "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign. Bannon and three others defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with the campaign, which raised $25 million, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said. Bannon, who was a key adviser of the US President Donald Trump, received more than $1m, at least some of which he used to cover personal expenses, the DoJ said. The United States Postal Inspection Service assisted in the investigation. Others in the indictment are Timothy Shea, a 49-year-old from Colorado accused of owning a shell company, Brian Kolfage, a disabled Iraq war veteran, and Andrew Badolato, who according to his own website was a contributor to Breitbart News, the conservative publication Bannon used to run. The "We Build the Wall" campaign pledged to use donations to build segments of the border barrier — whose construction was a key Trump promise during the 2016 election — on private land. Instead, prosecutors allege that Bannon and his team profited off the arrangement. "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," Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. "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. We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it." The White House declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Bannon did not return a request for comment.
