Steve Bannon Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Steal $15 Million From Border Wall Donors

Steve Bannon, long time Trump ally and former chief strategist, avoided jail time by pleading guilty Tuesday to defrauding donors who thought their money was being used to help build a wall at the southern border of the United States.

Bannon was charged with five felony counts and faced up to 15 years in prison. The guilty plea, filed in New York criminal court, allows Bannon to avoid jail time as long as he does not commit any more crimes. The plea comes with a three-year conditional discharge, and waives his right to appeal. Bannon is not required to pay restitution.

The right-wing media executive was indicted in 2022 on state charges including money laundering, conspiracy and fraud after creating an online fundraising campaign titled “We Build the Wall.” The donations were promised to be used to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. According to reports Bannon and his partners raised over $15 million.

This was not the first time Bannon was charged with a defrauding scheme. He was charged in 2020 by federal prosecutors in a different case. However, he was pardoned by Donald Trump during the final hours of his first term. 

Bannon just got out of jail in October after serving a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. The subpoena came from the House of Representatives’ Jan. 6 Committee. The Trump ally said he was “proud to go to prison” following his conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress.

According to reports, Bannon did not seem remorseful following the hearing. In fact, immediately after the hearing Bannon called newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a criminal investigation against the prosecutors in the trial. The investigation was brought against democrats, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, and New York Attorney General Letitia James for “what they did to President Trump.”     

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