Conservative Steve Bannon was guilty of defrauding donors in an effort to raise funds to build a wall along the southern US border, in an agreement that allowed him to avoid arrest.
Bannon was guilty of a state-of-the-art state crime and was sentenced to a three-year suspended penalty. It will not serve any prison sentence, nor will it be required to pay any compensation under the agreement.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson said there is no refund because Bannon’s co-defendants in a related federal process have already returned millions of dollars to the victims.
Bannon spoke briefly in court, answering the judge’s questions.
“Yes, very merit,” he said when they asked him if he had participated in the scheme that he was declared guilty.
Prosecutors fought to prevent recent efforts to postpone the trial, which was expected to start March 4. This is also the second criminal conviction of Bannon, which was considered guilty of contempt to Congress. He served four months in federal arrest and was released in November.
Bannon, former Estratega and President Donald Trump’s counselor, was indicted in 2022 on state money laundering, conspiracy and fraud charges related to an online background collection scheme called “We Build The Wall”, which requested donations with the premise to build a wall along the US-Mixic border. Prosecutors say Bannon and others have raised more than $ 15 million falsely claiming that none of the money would be used to pay the salary of one of the founders.
Bannon was first indicted for federal accusations in 2020, along with others involved in the fundraising effort. Trump forgiven Bannon before leaving office in 2021 and the office of the district promoter of Manhattan, led by Alvin Bragg, a democrat, launched his own investigation.
A confession of guilt marks Bannon’s second criminal conviction, which had already been considered guilty of contempt to Congress for challenging a subpoena related to the investigation into January 6 events. Bannon served four months in federal arrest.
Last month, Bannon hired a new lawyer, Arthur Aidala, a New York criminal defense lawyer who also represents Harvey Weinstein.
At the hearing, Bannon told the judge that he hired Aidala to adopt a more aggressive position in the trial.
“I have been the target of political accusation, persecution for years. When it comes to judgment, I need to be more aggressive. We will use all means to our power to fight this, ”Bannon said at the time.
As part of his three -year conditional dismissal, Bannon is prohibited from performing duties as an employee or director of any non -profit organizations with assets in New York or to access the names of donors of “We Build the Wall.”
