Steve Bannon’s New York border wall fraud trial postponed until February

Steve Bannon, former advisor to the president-elect Donald Trump who is he accused of defrauding donors A judge ruled Monday that the border wall plan won’t go to trial until the end of February.

The trial was scheduled to begin on December 9 in New York, but prosecutors requested to present additional financial evidence explaining Bannon’s alleged motivation for participating in the case. plan and Judge April Newbauer, a justice on the New York State Supreme Court. accepted their proposal.

Bannon’s trial is scheduled for February 25, more than a month after Trump’s inauguration.

Manhattan grand jury A lawsuit was filed against Bannon in 2022 on charges of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy His role in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign. Prosecutors accused Bannon and three others of funneling donors’ money into their own pockets instead of using all of the money to build a wall along the U.S. southern border.

Bannon faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and claimed the charges brought by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg were politically motivated.

Trump’s vocal ally had previously faced federal charges for his involvement in this scheme, and he himself denied these charges. Trump pardoned Bannon one of his last acts from his first term as president. Trump can’t pardon Bannon in New York case.

Bannon recently spent four months in prison for contempt of Congress after defying a congressional subpoena to testify in the House of Representatives’ Jan. 6 committee investigation. he was Published one week before election day and immediately continued to spread voter fraud conspiracy theories.

bannon likely to play an important role Defending Trump’s hard-line agenda through his “War Room” podcast and his influence in MAGA circles. He repeated Trump’s call punishing the president-elect’s political rivals.