The grifters behind a 2018 GoFundMe campaign promising to build a wall on the US/Mexico border have pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Andrew Badolato and Brian Kolfage (the latter of whom also pleaded guilty to tax and wire fraud charges) set up the obvious scam of a fundraiser with promises to circumvent all the political red tape they said was then “obstructing President Trump’s plan to build a wall on our southern border.” They reportedly brought in more than $25 million because xenophobia is a hell of a moneymaker. Rather than turn that money over to the government as promised, they transferred it to a non-profit called “We Build the Wall,” which boasted a whole slew of terrible people as active supporters, including Steve Bannon, Milwaukee’s Sheriff David A. Clarke, and failed Kansas gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach.
For months and months, Kolfage and Badalato kept promising donors work was being done on the wall. They said they were scouting locations, which were being kept secret for fear of “liberal terrorists.” The dates they announced ground would be broken came and went and while no wall materialized, the men did happen (coincidentally, I’m sure) to be increasing the lavishness of their lifestyles, including buying themselves yachts.
Kolfage and Badolato were arrested in August of 2020, along with a man named Timothy Shea, who owns a pro-Trump energy drink company and has pleaded not guilty to his charges, and Steve Bannon, who also pleaded not guilty and was subsequently pardoned by Donald Trump. They were all ultimately brought down, in large part, by the work of the US Postal Inspectors at a time when Trump was actively working to dismantle the USPS.
According to NBC News, despite Kolfage’s promises that he would not take a penny in salary for his work on the nonexistent wall, the indictment against him says “he ‘covertly’ took more than $350,000 for his personal use while Bannon used a nonprofit group under his control to receive $1 million from the campaign to pay Kolfage and personal expenses.”
Their report continues:
Bannon falsely claimed that the campaign was a “volunteer organization,” according to the indictment.
Federal prosecutors said the defendants used “fake invoices” and “‘sham’ vendor agreements” to route hundreds of thousands of donated dollars from “We Build the Wall” to pay for their personal expenses.
So in the end, racist, xenophobic Trump supporters get separated from their money, and (most of) the scammers get jail time. That sounds like a true win-win situation.
Kolfage and Badolato are scheduled to be sentenced in September of this year. They face up to 20 years in prison.
(via NBC News, image: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
