On Thursday, Aug. 20, former Trump political advisor and chief strategist Steve Bannon and three others were arrested and indicted for their involvement in a two-year long fraudulent fundraising scheme.
Bannon and the three other leaders of the “We Build the Wall” 501(c)(4) campaign were charged with defrauding donors who raised $25 million for the online campaign and are looking at a four-year maximum of prison time. Those arrested included Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea.
Kolfage is a triple-amputee war veteran, known for his noble service in Iraq. In September 2004, during Kolfage’s second deployment to Iraq, a 107 mm rocket shell exploded about 3 feet from him, throwing him several feet and against a wall of sandbags.
Badolato and Bannon are connected by years of suspicious political activity and Badolato is no stranger to fraud related crimes. The self-proclaimed entrepreneur is tied to years of financial crimes and mob related activities.
Badolato helped the FBI develop extortion charges for Luis Caputo, tied to the Gambino family and in 2009, his company Industrial Biotechnology Corporation was discovered to be a pump-and-dump scheme.
