- Steve Bannon has been charged in Manhattan with money laundering, conspiracy, and scheme to defraud.
- Trump's former White House advisor could get as little as probation even if convicted of all six charges.
Right-wing agitator Steve Bannon, the former White House advisor to Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a new Manhattan indictment alleging he conspired to launder money and commit fraud through a sham "We Build the Wall" charity.
Bannon was led into court in handcuffs to enter his plea, but sat uncuffed at the defense table. Released without bail, he gave the assembled press a rambling, agrieved statement that did not address the charges.
He instead complained without evidence about the "stolen" 2020 presidential election, promoted his podcast and accused the press of being "in bondage."
"We are not gonna back down, and they will not be able to shut me up," he said.
The 2018 charity had promised its GoFundMe donors that 100 percent of donations would go toward building a wall on private property along the US-Mexico border; ultimately $25 million was raised, but only three miles of fencing was built, federal authorities have said.
The feds' indictment had alleged that Bannon conspired with Air Force vet and triple amputee Brian Kolfage and two other men, pocketed more than a million dollars from their 2018 crowdfunded charity, "We Build the Wall."
Kolfage and co-defendant Andrew Badolato, both of Florida, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan in April and have yet to be sentenced. The remaining federal defendant, Timothy Shea, is scheduled to be retried in October after his first trial ended in a hung jury in June.
The new charges, released by the Manhattan district attorney's office Thursday morning after Bannon turned himself in, pick up where Trump's pardon in a related federal case left off.
Read Bannon's new 'We Build the Wall' donor-scam indictment here.
Trump's pardon, issued the night before he left office and before Bannon could face trial in federal court, made that case go away but does not protect him from Thursday's charges, thanks in large part to a 2019 New York law that makes it tougher for presidential pardon recipients to fight related state cases.
"It's a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable," Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement that called Bannon the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme that defrauded thousands of donors across the country, including "hundreds of Manhattan residents."
"In Manhattan, and in New York, you will be held accountable," he added at an early afternoon press conference.
The office of New York's attorney general, Letitia James, partnered with Bragg's office in winning the indictment.
"Simply put, Mr. Bannon lied to ordinary citizens about this project," James said at the press conference. "There cannot be another set of rules for the wealthy and the powerful."
None of the six charges carry mandatory jail time, and the top count, second-degree money laundering, carries a maximum of 15 years. The 2020 federal charges on the same "We Build the Wall" donor-scam allegations — the case Trump pardoned Bannon on — had carried a maximum of 20 years prison.
James and Bragg shed no light on why Manhattan prosecutors did not get an indictment on grand larceny.
The federal indictment had alleged that Bannon stole in excess of one million dollars, and that allegation under state law could have supported a first degree grand larceny charge carrying a mandatory one year prison.
"I'm not going to get into what could have been charged," Bragg said when asked during the press conference, insisting that the indictment as is "still speaks to very serious conduct."
But jurisdictional concerns may have intervened. The Manhattan DA only has jurisdiction over victims that live in the borough and money that moves through its financial institutions.
The hundreds of Manhattanites that Manhattan prosecutors say gave to "We Build the Wall" may have donated insignificant sums, and all of the banks that the federal indictment said were involved in related transactions are based outside New York.
We Build the Wall, Inc, which is also under indictment, is based in Florida.
Bannon had maintained he was innocent throughout the federal prosecution; he remained in custody for five hours pending his arraignment Thursday afternoon before New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan. His next court date was set for October 4.
Merchan did not set bail, but ordered Bannon to surrender his passports to the DA's office.
"He's not going anywhere," his attorney, David Schoen, said in agreeing to the passport surrender. "He intends to stay and fight these charges all the way through."
This story has been updated to reflect Bannon's arraignment.