I read the info on this when it was new. It honestly sounds like they got him dead to rights. He stuck his dick in the crocodile's mouth and then cried political persecution when he got bit.
The dude solicited millions and millions in donations on the basis that like a janny, the main guy "does it for free", and then he had a secret deal with the guy to backdoor a huge amount of money to him through his PAC or whatever, making the solicitations fraudulent. There are tons of emails with them telling on themselves and a clear paper trail of the money being paid to Bannon, Bannon keeping most of it, then paying a bunch back to the guy.
Bannon was VERY HIGH VISIBILITY and a major political lightning rod, engaged in a VERY CONTROVERSIAL project (private border wall construction) and the dude decided to run a fucking grift to enrich himself, then only after he got tipped off that the feds were snooping around did he stop and try to cover up what he'd already done. He deserves everything he gets for being such a dumbass. It's such a shame that Trump was surrounded by people like this, but unfortunately when you are a political outsider, it turns out that the outcasts who you cobble together are often shady. Sad.
edit: so I wasn't following this story and just looked it up
He was dead to rights on federal charges
Trump pardoned him as he was leaving office [honestly shitty and should not have been done]
"In August 2022 he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney on New York State charges" I have not seen the charges and do not know whether the jurisdictional nexus is valid or if any state law actually applies. I am doubtful that if they had a case, that they would have waited over a year and a half to bring charges, since they're just going to copy all the evidence over from the pardoned federal prosecution.
Yeah, people shouldn't be defending this guy. He was caught dead to rights lining his own pockets with money donated to go to building the border wall. He's just another right wing grifter like Black Rifle Coffee.
It's like moving to Florida from Seattle. It's shocking how many blatant scams there are, with nice websites, and misuse of legitimate sources. It takes a while to realize all of the houses being looked at aren't even owned by the seller.
I doubt New York has any ability to do this. It's an election campaign trick by all signs.
The gist of it is that he claimed that "all" of the money would go to building a wall in the context of not spending it on political advertising and candidates and such. The NY DA say what Bannon really meant was that all the administrative costs like like office space, xerox machines, and so on couldn't come out of the fund and had to be donated by Bannon and others running the fund.
Related, Bannon said the CEO wouldn't get paid a salary, but he was paid a one time amount so this was technically true but misleading.
There are issues in dispute, but realistically what Bannon did was far less than almost every other similar type fund in existence and that's why this is a witch hunt not Justice.
If it was a scam, he deserves prosecution.
However, considering all the other stuff that's going on, I'm extremely skeptical.
I read the info on this when it was new. It honestly sounds like they got him dead to rights. He stuck his dick in the crocodile's mouth and then cried political persecution when he got bit.
The dude solicited millions and millions in donations on the basis that like a janny, the main guy "does it for free", and then he had a secret deal with the guy to backdoor a huge amount of money to him through his PAC or whatever, making the solicitations fraudulent. There are tons of emails with them telling on themselves and a clear paper trail of the money being paid to Bannon, Bannon keeping most of it, then paying a bunch back to the guy.
Bannon was VERY HIGH VISIBILITY and a major political lightning rod, engaged in a VERY CONTROVERSIAL project (private border wall construction) and the dude decided to run a fucking grift to enrich himself, then only after he got tipped off that the feds were snooping around did he stop and try to cover up what he'd already done. He deserves everything he gets for being such a dumbass. It's such a shame that Trump was surrounded by people like this, but unfortunately when you are a political outsider, it turns out that the outcasts who you cobble together are often shady. Sad.
edit: so I wasn't following this story and just looked it up
He was dead to rights on federal charges
Trump pardoned him as he was leaving office [honestly shitty and should not have been done]
"In August 2022 he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney on New York State charges" I have not seen the charges and do not know whether the jurisdictional nexus is valid or if any state law actually applies. I am doubtful that if they had a case, that they would have waited over a year and a half to bring charges, since they're just going to copy all the evidence over from the pardoned federal prosecution.
Yeah, people shouldn't be defending this guy. He was caught dead to rights lining his own pockets with money donated to go to building the border wall. He's just another right wing grifter like Black Rifle Coffee.
This would be odd, because Bannon is normally a brilliant strategist.
It's like moving to Florida from Seattle. It's shocking how many blatant scams there are, with nice websites, and misuse of legitimate sources. It takes a while to realize all of the houses being looked at aren't even owned by the seller.
I doubt New York has any ability to do this. It's an election campaign trick by all signs.
I'd be curious to know what the long arm/jurisdiction statutes that they're using. My guess is that he took donations from New Yorkers, but who knows.
The gist of it is that he claimed that "all" of the money would go to building a wall in the context of not spending it on political advertising and candidates and such. The NY DA say what Bannon really meant was that all the administrative costs like like office space, xerox machines, and so on couldn't come out of the fund and had to be donated by Bannon and others running the fund.
Related, Bannon said the CEO wouldn't get paid a salary, but he was paid a one time amount so this was technically true but misleading.
There are issues in dispute, but realistically what Bannon did was far less than almost every other similar type fund in existence and that's why this is a witch hunt not Justice.