Bannon owes $670,000 to lawyers who won his pardon, judge rules

WASHINGTON - With hours left in his presidency, Donald Trump granted pardons to a long roster of people. Prominent among them was his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who had been charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with conspiring to

swindle donors of money to build a wall along the Mexican border.

This week, the attorneys who helped secure his freedom in 2021 won a judgment against him for nearly US$500,000 (S$670,000) in unpaid legal fees.

The New York firm, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, had sued Bannon in Manhattan state court in February for not paying more than half of what he owed them. Bannon had paid just US$375,000 of more than US$850,000 in legal fees incurred over two years, the law firm said.

The order against Bannon is just the latest legal woe the right-wing pundit and podcaster has faced in recent years. The firm also worked for him during an investigation by the former Manhattan district attorney into Trump, it said in court papers. Its lawyers helped Bannon fight a subpoena from the congressional committee that investigated the

Jan 6, 2021, insurrection,

and subsequently represented him in

criminal contempt proceedings when he defied it.

In Friday’s order, judge Arlene P. Bluth found that he had to pay the firm what he owed, plus 1 per cent interest. She also ordered him to pay “reasonable legal fees” for its suit.

Mr Jeffrey Citron, a managing partner at the firm, said in a statement on Tuesday that it was unfortunate that the firm had to sue to get paid for representing Bannon in “his various legal predicaments”.

“The firm intends to pursue every opportunity to collect,” he added.

Bannon’s current lawyer, Mr Harlan Protass, said in an e-mailed statement: “The judge’s decision was clearly wrong, and we intend to immediately appeal it.”

Bannon had argued that he told the firm to stop representing him in January 2022 and that it had worked on cases beyond those for which he had retained it. The judge found that their signed agreement did not limit the cases the firm was to work on, and did not allow Bannon to duck his bills.

“Defendant cannot receive the benefit of plaintiff’s legal representation and then insist he need not pay for it,” she wrote.

In the case for which Bannon was pardoned, prosecutors said he had siphoned more than US$1 million for personal and other expenses from donors who believed the funds were going to We Build The Wall, in order to construct a barrier along the southern border with Mexico. The group raised more than US$25 million. Much of it wound up in the pockets of its founders.

Bannon’s pardon was questioned by government watchdog groups and Trump’s critics, as well as some of his allies. Three other men were indicted with him, but none received presidential pardons.

Two of the men, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, pleaded guilty in 2022 to bilking donors. In April, Badolato was sentenced to three years in prison and Kolfage was sentenced to four years and three months.

A third man, Timothy Shea, was convicted in a retrial in October of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and falsification of documents for his actions, and still faces sentencing.

Bannon’s troubles with the wall – and his lawyers – are not done.

In September, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in Manhattan that largely echo the facts of the scuttled federal case. He is again accused of defrauding donors.

He faces two felony counts of money laundering, two felony counts of conspiracy and one felony count of a scheme to defraud, and could face a maximum sentence of five to 15 years on the most serious charge. He has called the accusations “all nonsense”.

In January, Bannon’s lawyer, Mr David Schoen, told the judge that he wanted to withdraw from the case, citing “a complete breakdown in communication” with Bannon. NYTIMES