Darren Lyn
11 February 2025•Update: 12 February 2025
HOUSTON, United States
Steven Bannon pleaded guilty to defrauding New Yorkers who donated to building President Trump's border wall during his first term in office, media outlets reported Tuesday.
Bannon, 71, a longtime Trump ally, made the plea bargain in a New York courtroom where he admitted to taking donations for the We Build the Wall online fundraiser for Trump's border wall project in exchange for no prison time.
We Build the Wall promised that 100% of the donations would fund a wall along the US-Mexico border. But prosecutors said Bannon redirected hundreds of thousands of dollars to himself by laundering the money through third-party entities.
"Mr. Bannon will plead guilty to count 5 of the indictment, which is scheme to defraud in the indictment," prosecutor Jeffrey Levinson announced in the courtroom. "He will receive a conditional discharge."
The judge imposed a three-year conditional discharge, during which time Bannon cannot serve as a director of a charity or fundraise for a nonprofit. He is also barred from using data gathered from We Build the Wall donors, according to media outlets.
The guilty plea is Bannon's second felony criminal conviction. He was sentenced in October 2022 after being found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2023, attack on the US Capitol and served four months behind bars.
Bannon was Trump's senior adviser during the president's first term in the Oval Office. He was initially charged in federal court with three co-defendants, but Trump pardoned Bannon when he was inaugurated this Jan. 20.
Trump can pardon defendants facing federal charges, but not state ones, such as the New York offenses he pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.
