Bannon surrenders in NYC to face fraud charges over border wall funds

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Steve Bannon, a onetime White House senior adviser to President Donald Trump, turned himself in to the Manhattan district attorney on Thursday to face state charges related to a funding scheme that prosecutors say bilked supporters out of millions of dollars.

Bannon, 68, arrived at the DA's office in Manhattan on Thursday morning to face the charges, which say he took money promising to aid construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico. Prosecutors say that's not what the money was used for.

The unsealed indictment says Bannon is charged with conspiracy and money laundering. He was due to appear in court later Thursday to be arraigned.

"This is an irony," Bannon said on his arrival, according to The New York Times. "On the very day the mayor of this city has a delegation down at the border, they're persecuting people here for trying to stop them at the border."

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who's conducting a separate civil investigation into questionable financial practices by the Trump Organization, has been involved in the case.

A press briefing later Thursday was expected to shed more light on the specific accusations against Bannon, who was accused in 2020 of lining his own pockets with donations from Trump's most avid supporters with the promise that it was going toward building the wall on the southern border.

Prosecutors say that Bannon and others collected millions for several months in 2019 with the promise that it was going to build additional sections of the U.S.-Mexico border. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI

Federal agents arrested Bannon that year while he was aboard a luxury yacht off the Connecticut coast. He ultimately posted a $5 million bond after pleading not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Bannon's case never made it to trial, however, because Trump pardoned him during his final days in office. Two other men charged in the case have pleaded guilty to defrauding donors and the trial for a third ended in a hung jury in June.

Trump's pardon, however, doesn't prevent prosecutions in state courts.

Prosecutors have said Bannon's "We Build the Wall" campaign collected $25 million in donations, $1 million of which he used to pay for personal items and expenses.

In an unrelated case, Bannon was convicted in July on contempt of Congress charges for refusing a subpoena to testify before the House Jan. 6 committee.