Bannon partner accused of border wall fraud scheme hit with new tax charges

Conservative activist accused of filing false tax return, omitting hundreds of thousands of dollars

Conservative activist Brian Kolfage has been indicted on new tax charges, with prosecutors saying he worked with Stephen Bannon to conduct a fraudulent fundraising drive for a Mexico border wall.

Mr Kolfage is a veteran of the air force who lost three limbs in Iraq. He founded the “We Build the Wall” campaign and has been charged in a federal Florida court with filing a false tax return.

Prosecutors said in an indictment that Mr Kolfage listed his 2019 income as $63,000 and didn’t tell the IRS about hundreds of thousands of dollars put into his bank account from “We Build the Wall,” among other sources.

Mr Kolfage was, along with Mr Bannon and two others, charged by federal prosecutors in New York last year with defrauding donors to the fundraising drive.

Hundreds of thousands of people donated to the campaign, which raised more than $25m. Prosecutors argued that those charged had lied when they said they wouldn’t take any compensation from the “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort.

The campaign was publically boosted by several allies of former president Donald Trump. Mr Bannon served as the chief strategist for the first several months of the Trump administration in 2017.

Mr Bannon and Mr Kolfage pushed back against the prosecutors’ claims, arguing that the indictment was politically motivated and meant to undermine supporters of Mr Trump, who pushed hard for the border wall during his 2016 campaign for the White House. He claimed that Mexico would pay for the wall, something that never came to pass.

Then-president Trump pardoned Mr Bannon in January. He was appointed to be the chief executive officer of Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and has been working to get the case against him dismissed.

An “administrative” termination of the case is being sought by the office of the US Attorney in Manhattan, The Washington Post reported. This would stop the prosecution of Mr Bannon but would not remove his name from the docket.

Neither Mr Kolfage nor the others charged in the case were pardoned by Mr Trump. The new case does not include Mr Bannon.

The pardon Mr Bannon received only protects him from charges on the federal level. The office of the Manhattan District Attorney has been contemplating whether they can make a case against Mr Bannon.

According to court records, a hearing for Mr Kolfage is set to take place on 27 May.

In a statement to The Independent, Mr Kolfage’s attorney Harvey Steinberg said: “Unlike the government, we are not going to hold a press conference to celebrate the persecution of a war hero.”