A federal judge in New York has denied a Castle Rock man’s request to move his trial to Colorado over his alleged role in a multimillion dollar scam to build a border wall.

“In sum, the location of the defendant and the expenses of the parties weigh in favor of transfer, but the other factors are neutral or weigh against transfer, and the interest of avoiding additional trials weighs heavily against transfer,” U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in wrote in am order Monday. 

Timothy Shea is one of four defendants facing trial — including former presidential adviser Steve Bannon — and the only one who requested a transfer. His attorney argued that Castle Rock was the “nucleus” of Shea’s business and family life, and that he had only ever traveled to New York as a child.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleged that Shea, Bannon and two others committed wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering by using hundreds of thousands of donated dollars to support a “lavish lifestyle.” Among those arrested was Brian Kolfage, an Air Force veteran who was severely wounded in Iraq in 2004 and is a triple amputee, who started the campaign in 2018.

The $25 million campaign was named “We Build the Wall,” and money ostensibly was destined for construction of a border wall with Mexico, one of President Donald Trump’s priorities as a candidate in 2016. Trump had promised Mexico would pay for the wall, but Congress has balked at budgeting the billions of dollars it would cost, although $3.8 billion for weapons programs and National Guard equipment was diverted from the Pentagon budget for construction of the border wall.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for May.

According to court documents, the extent of Shea’s involvement was reportedly the creation of a limited liability corporation that “We Build the Wall” paid for social media work that never happened. The money instead went to Shea and a co-conspirator, prosecutors alleged.

Torres weighed such factors as the location of possible witnesses, whether Colorado was a “nerve center” of the conspiracy and the caseload of the judges in Colorado compared with New York. While finding some of those considerations weighed in Shea’s favor, the judge rejected his request, and noted that governmental funds are available for witnesses, should Shea wind up calling any from Colorado.

Shea is currently free on bail.