Steve Bannon, 66, was arrested aboard a 150-foot superyacht and charged with ripping off hundreds of thousands of donors in ‘We Build The Wall Fundraiser’ scam.
Bannon and three others were arrested for defrauding people after pledging to use donations to construct a part of the border wall.
The magistrate judge approved his release on $5 million bail.
Daily Mail managed to obtain photos of Bannon only hours before he was arrested.
The person who took the pictures 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 (Thursday) there were more Coastguard military planes all around it.”
The We Build The Wall fundraising scam raised $25 million to fund parts of the wall in New Mexico and Texas. The online appeal for donations included a photo of the US president and also a stamp that said ‘Approved.’
However, the funds obtained were funneled to Bannon and the group’s founder Brian Kolfage.
The group promised people that all donations would be used to build parts of the wall without government red tape.
Bannon is accused of receiving $1 million in the scam, spending most of it on ‘expenses’ while Kolfage is accused of pocketing the money.
According to the indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court: “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.
“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.”
Also indicted are Timothy Shea from Colorado and Andrew Badolato from Florida.
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Replaced!