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After Pardon for Bannon, 2 to Admit Bilking Donors to Border Wall

In Donald J. Trump’s final hours as president in January 2021, he pardoned his onetime chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who faced charges that he had conspired to swindle donors to a private group that promised to build a wall along the Mexican border.

But three men charged with Mr. Bannon were not pardoned, and two of them are expected to plead guilty on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, court filings show.

One is Brian Kolfage, a 40-year-old Air Force veteran from Miramar Beach, Fla., who lost both legs and an arm during his service in Iraq, and who founded the fund-raising campaign for the private We Build the Wall project, intended to further one of Mr. Trump’s signature political initiatives.

Building a wall along the country’s southwestern border to repel migrants became a rallying cry for Mr. Trump throughout his presidency, and the charges against Mr. Bannon and his co-defendants suggested they had exploited the issue’s popularity among Trump supporters to dupe donors to their project for private gain.

“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,” said Audrey Strauss, then the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, when the charges were announced in August 2020.

The other defendant expected to plead guilty on Thursday is Andrew Badolato, 57, a venture capitalist from Sarasota, Fla., the court filings show. The fourth, Timothy Shea, 51, of Castle Rock, Colo., had reached a tentative deal to plead guilty, but changed his mind, prosecutors said in a recent court filing. Mr. Shea is scheduled for trial on May 16.

The We Build the Wall case has been widely watched, initially because of Mr. Bannon’s connection and then, after his pardon, because the three less-well-connected defendants were left facing prosecution.

Mr. Bannon, 68, could still end up playing a part in the case if Mr. Shea goes to trial next month. The prosecution, for example, could call Mr. Bannon as a witness to testify about the case, and with his pardon and the immunity it confers, he would not be able to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shea’s lawyer, John C. Meringolo, has said in court papers that the defense plans to call Mr. Bannon as a witness.

“We don’t believe the government can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt against Tim Shea,” Mr. Meringolo said by phone this week.

When the charges were announced, prosecutors said that in order to induce donors to contribute, Mr. Bannon and Mr. Kolfage “repeatedly and falsely assured the public” that Mr. Kolfage would “not take a penny in salary or compensation,” and that all the money raised would be used “in the execution of our mission and purpose.”

According to the indictment, the fund-raising campaign raised more than $25 million for the project.

But prosecutors said Mr. Bannon and his co-defendants misrepresented the true use of the donated funds.

The Trump Investigations


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Numerous inquiries. Since former President Donald Trump left office, there have been many investigations and inquiries into his businesses and personal affairs. Here’s a list of those ongoing:

Investigation into criminal fraud. The Manhattan district attorney’s office and the New York attorney general’s office have been investigating whether Mr. Trump or his family business, the Trump Organization, intentionally submitted false property values to potential lenders. In February, two Manhattan prosecutors resigned, clouding the future of the district attorney’s case.

Investigation into tax evasion. As part of their investigation, in July 2021, the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, its chief financial officer, with orchestrating a 15-year scheme to evade taxes. In February, lawyers for both parties asked a judge to dismiss the charges.

Investigation into election interference. The Atlanta district attorney is conducting a criminal investigation of election interference in Georgia by Mr. Trump and his allies.

Investigation into the Trump National Golf Club. Prosecutors in the district attorney’s office in Westchester County, N.Y., appear to be focused at least in part on whether the Trump Organization misled local officials about the property’s value to reduce its taxes.

Civil investigation into Trump Organization. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, is seeking to question Mr. Trump under oath in a civil fraud investigation of his business practices.

The indictment accused Mr. Bannon of siphoning more than $1 million from the project through a nonprofit organization he controlled, and using the money, among other things, to pay Mr. Kolfage and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Mr. Bannon’s personal expenses.

The indictment said Mr. Kolfage took more than $350,000 in donated funds and used that money to pay for home renovations, a luxury S.U.V., boat payments, a golf cart, cosmetic surgery and jewelry.

Mr. Kolfage will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, prosecutors said in their court filing. He will also plead guilty to federal tax-related charges that were filed against him in Florida and later moved to New York.

Mr. Bannon remains under a separate investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office for his role in the project, according to 2021 news reports. Mr. Trump’s pardon of Mr. Bannon applied only to federal crimes, not to state offenses.

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, declined to comment.

Jonah E. Bromwich contributed reporting.

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