Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s main strategist at the beginning of the Republican’s first mandate, has been declared on Tuesday guilty of cheating New York who donated to We Build The Wall (We build the wall), a virtual fundraising platform to finance the star project of the first presidency of Trump, the lifting of a wall on the border between the US and Mexico to prevent migrant crosses. Bannon has assumed its guilt in exchange for a lenitive sentence that does not imply jail sentences.
“The parties have reached a guilt agreement. Mr. Bannon will declare himself guilty of position 5 of the accusation, which is a scheme to disappoint, and will receive probation, ”said prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson, from the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office. This is the crime of fraud in the first degree, for which he has been sentenced to three years of probation. In return, he will not comply with any prison sentence or must pay any compensation or restitution, because, as reported by the Prosecutor’s Office, the rest of the defendants in this federal case have already returned millions of dollars to the cheated taxpayers.
The assumption of guilt is the second sentence for serious crime for Bannon, which was declared guilty of contempt of Congress after refusing to appear before the commission that investigated the assault on the Capitol for a Trumpist horde in January 2021. He turned four months in a prison in a prison Federal and was released in November, coinciding with the elections that have returned to the White House to their former boss.
In the case of the wall, Bannon was accused in 2022 of state money laundering, conspiracy and fraud charges related to the virtual fundraising plot on the aforementioned platform. Prosecutors argue that Bannon and their accomplices raised more than 15 million dollars falsely affirming that not a single cent of donated money would be used to pay the salary of those responsible for We Build The Wall. Bannon had been arrested in August 2020 for the wall fraud, and on Tuesday he recognized before the judge that his purpose was to disappoint multiple donors.
However, the development of the case has been agitated, with two differentiated stages. Bannon was first accused of federal positions in 2020 along with others involved in the collection of funds. Trump pardon him before leaving office in 2021 and the Office of the Prosecutor of the District of Manhattan, led by Democrat Alvin Bragg, then launched his own investigation. Last month, Bannon hired a new lawyer, Arthur Aidala, a well -known New York criminal who also represents the sexual predator Harvey Weinstein. The populist ideologue explained in the trial that had hired Aidala to adopt a more aggressive position. “I have been defamed by a political accusation, a persecution for years. When going to trial, I need to be more aggressive. We will use all the tools to fight this, ”said Bannon then. His defense also tried to delay the start date of the trial, scheduled for March 4.
As part of the agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, Bannon will be prohibited for three years being an official or director of any beneficial or non -profit organization with assets in New York, as well as accessing the list of donors from We Build The Wall.
