Steve Bannon's Zombie Charity

Put a Stake in “Zombie Charity.” Philanthropy Is for the Living.

"The human beings involved in We Build the Wall have all resigned."  That is what Steve Bannon and We Build The Wall's attorney said about the 501(c)(4) Bannon allegedly used to defraud donors, as he explained why he [the attorney] sought leave to withdraw.  The media is having fun declaring "We Build the Wall is officially a zombie charity."   I am not sure the description is apt.  To be a zombie charity, the organization would have had to have been a real charity at some point.  Before being bit or infected by another zombie, I mean.  And only then morphing from a real charity to a shell of itself looking to bite other living charities.  I don't think We Build the Wall was ever a real charity, is all.  

You might recall that Bannon and his boys were indicted in federal court, but that indictment dissolved when Bannon received a last minute pardon from President Trump.  Turns out the President can't pardon someone for state crimes. Who knew!?   Here is a snippet from the now dismissed federal indictment:

1. BRIAN KOLFAGE, STEPHEN BANNON, ANDREW BADOLATO, and TIMOTHY SHEA, the defendants, collectively received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization's public representations. In particular, KOLFAGE covertly took more than $350,000 in funds that had been donated to We Build the Wall for his personal use, while BANNON, through a non-profit organization under his control ("Non-Profit-111),  received over $1,000,000 from We Build the Wall, which BANNON used to, among other things, secretly pay KOLFAGE and to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in BANNON's personal expenses. To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BANNON, BADOLATO, and SHEA devised a scheme to route those payments from We Build the Wall to KOLFAGE indirectly through Non-Profit-1 and a shell company under SHEA's control, among other avenues. They did so by using fake invoices and sham "vendor11 arrangements, among other ways, to ensure, as KOLFAGE noted in a text message to BADOLATO, that his pay arrangement remained "confidential11 and kept on a "need to know11 basis.

The shenanigans only get better.  Read the indictment for more chuckles.  Meanwhile Bannon declared outside of a New York State Court yesterday -- where he is learning all about "separate sovereigns" -- that ain't no way in hell I am going to jail!  This, even as his co-defendants have pleaded guilty to charges the sentencing guidelines for which call for a 48 to 60 month "short course," as we used to call it back in my Army JAG days.  Those state charges, by the way, pretty much mirror the federal indictment, even labeling one nonprofit an "unindicted co-conspirator entity.  

One such intermediary was Unindicted Co-Conspirator Entity 1, which was a non-profit controlled by Bannon. WeBuildTheWall, Inc., Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1, Bannon, and others, in furtherance of the conspiracy, agreed to use Unindicted Co-Conspirator Entity 1 to accept money from WeBuildTheWall, Inc., and to use a portion of that money to pay Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1. On or about January 11, 2019, Bannon was informed in a text message from Unindicted Co-Conspirator 2 that Unindicted CoConspirator 1 would be stating publicly that he would not be taking a penny from the donations. Bannon responded “[Unindicted Co-Conspirator Entity 1] can pay him.” On or about January 15, 2019, Bannon wrote in a text message to Unindicted Co-Conspirator 2 that there would be “[n]o deals I don’t approve; and I pay [Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1] so what’s to worry.” On or about January 18, Bannon wrote an email to Unindicted Co-Conspirator 2 clarifying that “You want $100k to [Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1.]” Unindicted Co-Conspirator Entity 1 was not using its own money to pay Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1; instead, Unindicted Co-Conspirator Entity 1 paid Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1 using money that it received from WeBuildTheWall, Inc.

I hardly think there is a tax lesson in any of this boneheaderie, to be honest.  But its like a very bad train wreck, isn't it.  Just can't look away.

 

darryll jones