Steve Bannon Faces New York Criminal Probe
Steve Bannon, formerly an investment banker and media executive, served as chief strategist and senior counsel to Trump until he left the White House in 2017. Trump, on his last day as President, pardoned him on federal fraud charges. However, that pardon only applied to alleged federal crimes. Now Manhattan prosecutors are investigating Bannon for potential crimes under New York state law.
The decision to investigate Bannon’s conduct resulted from Manhattan prosecutors’ review of the 143 pardons and commutations issued in Trump’s last hours in office.
The Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan, has jurisdiction because victims in the Bannon case reside in the Southern District of New York. Also, financial transactions made through major banking institutions based in or with operations in New York are part of the funds in question.
Bannon and three others were arrested on August 20 and indicted for stealing from the “We Build the Wall” campaign, which received donations from hundreds of thousands of people who contributed to the private effort to get Trump’s U.S.-Mexico wall built. Prosecutors said the funds were routed through shell companies and a non-profit. The campaign raised more than $25 million that donors thought would all be spent on construction. Bannon received more than $1 million himself, according to court documents.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is leading the investigation, which is still in the early stages. Whether the investigation covers the same circumstances that spurred the federal investigation is unknown. Prosecutors in Vance’s office are seeking records and requesting to interview a pair of potential witnesses.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York would require an order from a federal judge to gain access to the information presented to a federal grand jury. There is no evidence that any judge has granted such an order yet.
In August, a federal indictment was unsealed. The indictment charged Bannon and his co-defendants with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. They were charged with falsely claiming they would not be compensated for their involvement in the fundraising effort for the Wall. Bannon’s co-defendants, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea, did not receive a pardon. Their trial is scheduled for May 24. They have pleaded not guilty.
Bannon also pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. He called the indictment “completely nonsense” and a “total political hit job.” He told reporters that the “entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.”
Brannon was the former head of the right-wing Breitbart News and ran Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign at one point.
