Steve Bannon associate Timothy Shea was sentenced today to 5 1/4 years in federal prison for defrauding thousands of donors in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scam.
Bannon was also charged in the online scheme but was not part of the trial because Donald Trump pardoned him in the final days of his presidency, Reuters reported. But Bannon was indicted in New York by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg on money laundering charges in connection with the scam.
Bannon’s trial is scheduled to begin May 27 before Judge Juan Merchan, who is also overseeing Bragg’s unrelated criminal business fraud case against Trump.
Shea’s, 52, of Castle Rock, Colorado, was found guilty last October on two conspiracy counts and one count of obstruction of justice after a one-week trial. An earlier trial ended last June in a hung jury.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said Shea helped his co-defendants launder looted donor funds through shell companies, even as they claimed all the money was going to build the wall, and kept $180,000 for himself, Reuters reported.
“They hurt us all by eroding the public's faith in the political process," Torres said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. Her sentence for Shea matched the recommendation of the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case, the report said.
Reuters also reported that two other defendants, the campaign's leader Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, pleaded guilty and were sentenced in April to 4-1/4 years and three years in prison, respectively.
In New York, Bannon faces a six-count indictment charging him with money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud for his alleged role in the We Build the Wall operation, Politico reported. The group “raised at least $15 million to construct a barrier along the border with Mexico but skimmed the donations,” according to the report.
Bannon pleaded not guilty to the charge, for which he faces a maximum 5 to 15 years in prison.
Whether Bannon’s customary bravado is curbed by the sentences to Shea and other defendants in the federal case remains to be seen. But this is how Politico had reported Bannon’s surrender on Bragg’s charges:
“Moments before the controversial former White House adviser entered, Bannon remarked, ‘They will never shut me up, they’ll have to kill me first.’ But inside, he said little, other than acknowledging a judge’s instructions — a heavy contrast to the bombastic and inflammatory persona that has become his trademark.”
