The organizer of a private fundraising campaign to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico will plead guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
Brian Kolfage, a double amputee Air Force veteran, agreed to plead guilty on Wednesday to three tax charges and a wire fraud charge related to a conspiracy to defraud donors while ostensibly raising funds to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Kolfage raised more than $25 million for the border wall but spent hundreds of thousands on a boat, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, and jewelry.
Kolfage also faces a money laundering charge related to the scheme. His plea deal does not involve that charge.
STEVE BANNON INDICTED FOR DEFRAUDING DONORS IN FUNDRAISER TO BUILD BORDER WALL
Working in concert with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea, Kolfage established “We Build the Wall,” a fundraiser to establish the border wall Trump had promised voters in 2016.
Kolfage and his colleagues promised they would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised” would be used to build the wall.
Prosecutors indicted the four men in August 2020.
Kolfage was the primary player in a scheme to use We Build the Wall and a nonprofit organization, Non-Profit-1, that Bannon created to reroute donor funds to cover Bannon’s debts, according to the indictment.
“To conceal the payments to Kolfage from We Build the Wall, Kolfage, Bannon, Badolato, and Shea devised a scheme to route … payments from We Build the Wall to Kolfage indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under Shea’s control,” the indictment alleges.
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While the four men each played a role in the scheme, Trump pardoned Bannon before he left office, absolving him of responsibility. Bannon had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Shea planned to plead guilty at the same time as Kolfage but has since changed his mind.
