Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been indicted for his alleged role in a scheme that raked in $25 million, along with a Castle Rock man who helped set up a GoFundMe page to benefit the president’s border wall.

Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, inspector-in-charge of the New York Field Office, unsealed indictments on Thursday morning for Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea.

Shea, a realtor from Castle Rock, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to a Department of Justice release. He was to be presented Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen L. Mix. Shea also owns a company called Winning Energy, which is a non-alcoholic drink that claims it’s made of “liberal tears.”

A Facebook post by Winning Energy, posted on July 4 at a Trump Boat Parade sponsored by Brian Kolfage and Steve Bannon. Winning Energy’s owner, Tim Shea of Castle Rock, is under federal indictment for fraud, tied to We Build the Wall. Kolfage purchased a boat with money he received from We Build the Wall funds.

Shea’s wife, Amanda, is the organization’s treasurer and a former writer for the conservative news site FreedomDaily. She told 9News in 2018 that they helped set up the GoFundMe page with Kolfage. 

According to Federal Election Commission records, Amanda Shea made two $2,800 contributions in 2019, to the Trump Victory Fund and the Trump, listing We Build the Wall as her employer. 

Tim Shea is “just the face of it, because he’s really good at that, and I do a lot of the back-end stuff,” Amanda Shea said during a Skype interview with 9News.

Bannon was taken into custody around 7 a.m. by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on a 150-foot luxury yacht called Lady May, which was off the coast of Connecticut, authorities said. The boat is owned by exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and currently for sale for nearly $28 million. 

At his hearing later Thursday, Bannon appeared with his hands cuffed in front of him and a white mask covering most of his face. He rocked back and forth on a chair in a holding cell where he appeared via video with his lawyers on the telephone. The magistrate judge approved Bannon’s release on $5 million bail, secured by $1.75 million in assets.

The four men led the “We Build the Wall” fundraiser that sought donations to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which was a 2016 campaign promise from President Trump. 

“As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction,” Strauss said in a statement.

“While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,” she continued. “We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”

The 24-page grand jury indictment seeks all property, including cash, tied to the organization, including a U.S. Bank account controlled by Tim Shea. The indictment also seeks a boat, docked in Destin, Fla., and purchased by Kolfage with money he received from We Build the Wall . Kolfage and Bannon sponsored a July 4th President Trump Boat Parade in Destin, which is featured in posts on Winning Energy’s Facebook page.

The advisory board for We Build the Wall also includes Republican Tom Tancredo of Littleton, a former member of Congress and a three-time candidate for governor, most recently in 2018. In 2019, Tancredo, along with Kolfage and Donald Trump Jr., participated in several fundraisers for the organization.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo at a July, 2019 fundraiser for We Build the Wall. The organization’s leadership, including former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, were indicted on August 20 for fraud.

In June, Tancredo discussed the project’s progress, telling the Arizona Republic that the organization’s experience would serve as a model for other efforts. “We’re cheaper and we’re quicker, and we’re more effective and efficient,” Tancredo said. “And so it’s only logical that if you want something done right, you will let private contractors do it.”

Tancredo, a longtime hawk on immigration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While building a wall between the United States and Mexico has been a campaign and administration pledge by the president, and one in which he claimed repeatedly that Mexico would pay for it, last month, Trump claimed the effort by We Build the Wall was intended to make him look bad. According to the Texas Tribune, the contractor hired by We Build The Wall to build a 3-mile segment that has shown signs of crumbling also won a $1.7 billion contract in May from the Trump administration. 

As reported by NBC News’ Hallie Jackson, President Trump’s press secretary issued a statement Thursday morning, claiming that the president had not been involved with Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the administration (Bannon was the campaign’s CEO and after the election served as the president’s chief strategist until August, 2017) and that the president did not know the people involved with the project.

Indictment Bannon

This breaking news will be updated.

the associated press Steve Bannon, shown here in a August 2016 file photo, was campaign chairman for President Trump and then served as a chief strategist until August 2017.

Gerald Herbert