Fraud in campaign to build the wall: former Trump adviser in

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Former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty Thursday, hours after he was arrested on a luxury yacht for allegedly stealing donations from a fundraising campaign for the president's controversial border wall with Mexico. According to The Guardian , Bannon controlled a nonprofit organization, which "received more than a million dollars from the We Build the Wall online campaign," money which he used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars. of dollars of personal expenses,” federal prosecutors in New York allege. Wearing a white face mask and looking sunburned, Bannon appeared briefly in federal court in midtown Manhattan just after 4 Time, and through his attorney pleaded not guilty. He was said to have been arrested around Eastern Time on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut, and was taken to New York City several hours later. Bannon will be released on $5 million bail, secured by million in cash or real estate. He has until September 3 to gather this collateral, and he is expected to leave the courthouse on Thursday, with photographers and reporters waiting to greet him.



The judge also said that one of the bail conditions was that Bannon would not make "use of private planes, yachts or private boats," following reports that he Nigeria WhatsApp Number List was arrested on the yacht of a Chinese businessman, who according to the New York Times was Guo . The court appearance follows the announcement of the charges last Thursday. Three other men – Brian , Andrew and Timothy – were also arrested in this alleged scheme to defraud the nonprofit. Authorities said he raised more than $25 million. The charges, made by the Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), were contained in an unsealed indictment in federal court in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others "orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors." According to the indictment, promises were made that 100% of the money donated would be used for the project. But it was alleged that they falsified invoices and supplier agreements, among other methods to hide what was really happening.





The men face one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Bannon served as executive director of Trump's election campaign in the final months of 2016 and later served as the president's chief strategist for seven months in the turbulent initial phase of the administration. He was fired as a senior adviser to the president in the summer of 2017, although Trump is said to have been speaking positively about him recently. After the allegation was unsealed, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany distanced the president from the scheme, saying that he "had not been involved" with Bannon since the campaign as well as the early part of the administration. and that he didn't know the other people. As everyone knows, President Trump has no involvement in this project and he felt it was just being done for bragging purposes, and perhaps to raise funds. White House Press Secretary. President Trump has previously and publicly stated the following: I don't agree with making this very small (tiny) section of wall in a hard-to-reach area, by a private group that raised money through advertisements. It was only done to make me look bad, and maybe it doesn't even work now.