The scene is worthy of detective films: Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump, representative of the radical right, was Thursday, August 20 in the morning off the coast of Connecticut, in the yacht of 45 meters of one of his friends, a Chinese entrepreneur in exile, when approached the coast guard, flanked by teams from the Manhattan federal prosecutor. Theformer editor of Breitbart News, 66, was arrested and transferred to New York, accused of embezzling a million dollars for himself at the expense of an association supposed to finance the wall dear to Donald Trump on the Mexican border.
At the same time, the police arrested three associates of Steve Bannon, including Brian Kolfage, 37, a former US Air Force who lost two legs and an arm in Iraq at the turn of the century, a far-right conspirator with a suspended Facebook account , and Andrew Badolato, 56, boss of a troubled Florida venture capital firm.
A very political catch, less than three months before the presidential election. It was led by Manhattan Federal Prosecutor Audrey Strauss, whose predecessor was sacked in June by Donald Trump – what had provoked a controversy. Mr. Bannon joins the cohort of advisers to Mr. Trump prosecuted for federal crimes: Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, convicted of doing business with Russia and Ukraine; Michael Flynn, former national security adviser, guilty of lying about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign; Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer known for buying the silence of women who have had relations with the future president.
Mr. Trump immediately distanced himself from Mr. Bannon, who had left the White House in the summer of 2017, seven months after the assumption of the Trump presidency, because of the untimely comments and leaks he was orchestrating. Her departure coincided with the riots in Charlottesville, when a far-right activist killed a counter-demonstrator. Mr. Trump, who has no involvement in the project, assured Thursday that he had no contact with Mr. Bannon ” for a long time “.
Siphoned funds
The allegations against Mr. Bannon and his associates are astoundingly simple. At the origin of the case, the fundraising organized by Mr. Kolfage, via GoFundMe, to help the federal state build the wall on the Mexican border in December 2018. At the time, Mr. Trump did not succeed not to finance his electoral promise and Mr. Kolfage is counting on Republican activists. Successfully, since he raised $ 17 million in less than a week. GoFundMe is concerned that no fund-recipient associations are formed and threatens to return the funds to donors. This is where Steve Bannon comes in, called on by Mr. Kolfage, who takes the business in hand and changes the purpose of the project: it is no longer a question of financing the federal government, but of privately financing the wall. on private plots.
You have 36.94% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
–
