Two men who spearheaded an effort to boost President Trump by erecting a border wall using private donations were slapped with prison sentences for fraud Wednesday.
Brian Kolfage, a wounded veteran who ran the crowdfunding We Build The Wall campaign, was given a 51-month sentence and Andrew Badolato received a three-year sentence.
We Build The Wall collected tens of millions of dollars from supporters of Mr. Trump who saw donating money as a concrete way of backing his marquee campaign promise of erecting a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The project ended up snared in legal woes, and achieved little actual construction.
Kolfage and Badolato pleaded guilty, and Timothy Shea was convicted of fraud charges. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also charged but received a pardon from Mr. Trump in his final days in office.
The crux of the fraud was Kolfage’s insistence that all the money raised from donors would go to building the wall, and neither he nor others in the organization would profit.
In fact, Kolfage took an initial $100,000 payment and then $20,000 per month for his involvement, which the other three helped facilitate.
And Shea, Badolato and Mr. Bannon also siphoned off some money, too.
Prosecutors said the lie about taking money was important because many donors contributed on the belief that their money was all going toward the wall.
“Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato abused the trust of donors to We Build the Wall and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to line their own pockets,” said Damien Williams, U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres saw things the same way, saying the scam “was no ordinary financial fraud.”
She saw a “chilling effect” on political participation, saying some donors may be reluctant to contribute to political causes in the future.
“They hurt us all,” she said.
Kolfage, through his lawyers, had pleaded with the judge to sentence him to home confinement. He cited his severe injuries, sustained during the Iraq war, as well as what the lawyer said was a one-time “aberration” in being part of the fraud.
The lawyer also said Kolfage was largely a figurehead in the operation, and that Badolato and Mr. Bannon were making the decisions.
“Through lawyers with a relationship with Bannon, the machinations and complexities of setting up the non-profit was accomplished. Brian was the front man, wheeled out to be the face of the campaign. Mr. Badolato ran operations in the background,” the lawyer said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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