The defendants were arrested this morning, Aug. 20. Kolfage will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hope T. Cannon in the Northern District of Florida, while Bannon will be presented today in the Southern District of New York, Badolato will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson in the Middle District of Florida, and Shea will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix in the District of Colorado. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York.

 

Strauss said, “As alleged, 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. While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of “We Build the Wall”, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle. We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”

 

Meanwhile, Bartlett said, “The defendants allegedly engaged in fraud when they misrepresented the true use of donated funds. As alleged, not only did they lie to donors, they schemed to hide their misappropriation of funds by creating sham invoices and accounts to launder donations and cover up their crimes, showing no regard for the law or the truth. This case should serve as a warning to other fraudsters that no one is above the law, not even a disabled war veteran or a millionaire political strategist.”

There appears to be no message on the We Build the Wall campaign website referencing today’s announcement. However, when donors click on the site’s Donate button, they are brought to a GoFundMe page which displays a message that informs them that the campaign cannot currently be found.

 

Norwood News reached out to GoFundMe, which appears to have been facilitating the campaign’s fundraising efforts through its platform www.gofundme.com/f/thetrumpwall, to ascertain if any Bronx-based donors have been impacted. The group responded to our email but did not answer this specific question.

 

A message on the home page of the “We Build the Wall “campaign site reads, “Your donations have a direct impact!”

 

The website also states that, “We Build the Wall Inc. is a Florida non-profit, tax-exempt, advocacy organization under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.” It also states that, “Contributions or gifts to We Build the Wall are not tax deductible for IRS purposes. Not paid for at taxpayer expense. WeBuildtheWall, Inc. PO Box 131567 Houston, Texas 77219-1567.”

 

Furthermore, following the submission of a media request by Norwood News under the “Contact” section of the We Build the Wall campaign website, under a “Media Inquiry” heading, the site automatically generated a message thanking us for signing a petition to Build the Wall, even though that was not the intention of the request. No contact telephone number is listed on the site.

 

 

 

 

When contacted recently about its campaign vetting policy for fundraising campaigns, GoFundMe provided the following statement to Norwood News:

 

“There’s a lot of work that happens behind the scenes. Our team of Trust & Safety specialists monitor the platform 24/7 to ensure the safety and protection of our community. In addition to technical tools and a dedicated team of experts, we have a community of 50 million users – when they see something they think might not be right, they tell us, and we look into it.

 

When a campaign is created, we work with campaign organizers to ensure the money is transferred to the right place. GoFundMe is a site that requires authenticity and transparency and our policy is simple and it’s strictly enforced: it is not permitted to mislead, defraud, or deceive any user on a GoFundMe campaign.

 

It’s important to know that the platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means funds are guaranteed to go to the right place or donors will get a refund. Here is additional information on the GoFundMe Guarantee: www.gofundme.com/guarantee-refund-policy”

 

In relation to a separate specific GoFundMe campaign which Norwood News had recently queried, GoFundMe provided the following response:

 

“In this case, our Trust & Safety team has suspended several campaigns and reached out to those campaign organizers to better understand the connection between the organizers and the beneficiary of the campaign. Donors will be refunded if we are not able to verify the connection, or if the family chooses not to accept the funds.”

 

GoFundMe responded to a request from Norwood News about the indictment of the four We Build the Wall campaigners on Aug. 20, saying, “GoFundMe has a zero tolerance policy for fraudulent behavior and we have been cooperating with law enforcement officials throughout their investigation. Protecting GoFundMe donors is our highest priority and we took measures to do just that.”

 

The statement continued, “It’s important to remember that the original intent of the fundraiser was to deliver money to the federal government for wall construction. When it became clear that wouldn’t be possible, in January 2019, the organizer established a new non-profit organization, We Build The Wall, Inc. (EIN 83-3040627).

 

When the organizer requested that the funds would be transferred to a new organization, we offered full refunds to all donors and contacted all donors multiple times over a 90-day period before funds were released. All donors had two options:  (1) receive a full refund or (2) expressly opt in and direct that their donation be redirected to We Build The Wall, Inc. If the donor did not opt in or respond to our outreach, they automatically received a full refund. After donors had the opportunity to receive a full refund during the 90-day period, the funds were released to the organization in question.”

Norwood News could not locate any statement regarding the announcement of the indictment on Bannon’s social media platforms as of Aug. 20. CNN reported that Bannon’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea and he was later released on bail including a $5 million bond. He has since spoken with the media about his arrest, saying, “This entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.”

 

The charges contained in the indictment in respect of Stephen Bannon, Timothy Shea, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.