Steve Bannon associate given jail term over Trump border wall fraud
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US Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage leaves his sentencing hearing in New York City.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - Decorated US Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, an ex-associate of Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, was sentenced on Wednesday to more than four years in prison after admitting to conspiring to defraud donors to a campaign to build a wall along the US-Mexico border
Kolfage, 41, pleaded guilty last year to misappropriating funds meant for the “We Build the Wall” campaign.
US District Judge Analisa Torres announced the 51-month sentence at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan.
Andrew Badolato, 58, another former Bannon associate, also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison at the same hearing.
“The fraud perpetrated by Mr Kolfage and Mr Badolato went well beyond ripping off individual donors,” Judge Torres told the hearing.
“They hurt us all by eroding the public’s faith in the political process.”
Kolfage, who lost his legs and right hand in a rocket attack in Iraq, and Badolato led the wall fund-raising push alongside Bannon, Trump’s former campaign and White House strategist who was also charged but who received a presidential pardon from Trump
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan had recommended that Kolfage spend 51 months in prison and Badolato 41 months.
Kolfage was accused of taking more than US$350,000 (S$460,000) and spent it on boat payments, jewellery and cosmetic surgery. He also pleaded guilty to tax charges.
Lawyers for Kolfage proposed that he be sentenced to home detention, citing his medical needs. Badolato’s lawyers said three years of probation would have been sufficient for their client because he was less culpable.
Another defendant, 52-year-old Timothy Shea, was convicted at trial in October. He is set to be sentenced in June.
In September, Bannon, 69, was indicted in New York state court in Manhattan
Trump’s pardon of Bannon covered federal crimes but not alleged state crimes. REUTERS
