Steve Bannon is accused of fraud in relation to a border wall fundraiser

• Bannon, 68, is charged with defrauding contributors during a fundraiser to support Mr. Trump’s initiative to erect a wall along the US-Mexico border.
• Authorities in New York claim he defrauded donors and gave some of the money to two friends by lying to them.
• Bannon denounced the charge as “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system” when he turned himself in on Thursday morning.

Former US President Donald Trump’s steadfast ally Steve Bannon has been charged with money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy.

Mr Bannon, 68, is charged with defrauding contributors during a fundraiser to support Mr. Trump’s initiative to erect a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Authorities in New York claim he defrauded donors and gave some of the money to two friends by lying to them.

According to the former White House senior strategist, he is a victim of persecution.

On Thursday, Mr. Bannon turned himself in to New York State authorities as six felony allegations against him were unveiled by a grand jury.

The right-wing podcaster promised to fight back as he entered court while being handcuffed and walking past reporters.

This is what a dying dictatorship goes through, he explained. “I’ll never be quieted by them. I’ll have to be killed by them first.”

The accusation against him claims that Mr. Bannon informed donors of the We Build the Wall non-profit, which generated more than $25 million (£22 million) from thousands of internet contributors, that he was “sort of a volunteer.”

Even while Mr. Bannon vowed that “not a dime” would be kept for himself or others, it is claimed that he channelled hundreds of thousands of dollars to two friends.

In 2020, federal prosecutors filed charges against Mr. Bannon and the two men, Andrew Badolato and Brian Kolfage. However, while Mr. Kolfage and Mr. Badolato pleaded guilty to the charges, Mr. Bannon was released from the case after receiving a presidential pardon on Mr. Trump’s last day in office.

Pardons, however, only apply to federal offences, and Mr. Bannon was charged with the same offences by New York state authorities.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who oversaw the investigation, said in a statement on Thursday that Stephen Bannon “served as the architect of a multi-million dollar scam to defraud thousands of donors around the country, including hundreds of citizens of Manhattan.”

The matter was also handled by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who noted that Mr. Bannon had “advantaged of his contributors’ political views to secure millions of dollars which he later misappropriated.”

‘Powerful political interests,’ according to Ms. James, who ‘believe they are beyond the law,’ must be held accountable. Democrats Mr. Bragg and Ms. James have also been looking into Mr. Trump and his company.

Mr. Bannon denounced the charge as “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system” when he turned himself in on Thursday morning.

He claimed that the fresh charges against him were “all about 60 days,” ostensibly alluding to the midterm elections in November.

Separately, Mr. Bannon was found guilty of contempt of the US Congress in July after he disobeyed a court summons from the committee looking into the Capitol rioting last year.

He will receive a punishment in that case next month, and the maximum sentence is two years in prison.

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