# Steve Bannon arrested in alleged fraud scam linked to border wall **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 20, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585 "2020-08-20T14:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/81 "2020-08-21T16:11:18Z")
Here’s a bit of info I found interesting yesterday: [https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/opinions/steve-bannon-indictment-means-trouble-honig/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/opinions/steve-bannon-indictment-means-trouble-honig/index.html) > The outlook for Bannon is bleak. He can go to trial, of course, but the [vast majority](https://www.justice.gov/usao/page/file/1285951/download) of federal trials result in conviction. He can plead guilty and hope for a slightly lower sentence than if he is convicted by a jury. Largely because of the amount of the alleged fraud – here, prosecutors say, over $25 million – Bannon, if convicted, is looking at [a sentence](https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/guidelines-manual/2016/Sentencing_Table.pdf)of at least approximately seven to nine years under the [federal sentencing guidelines](https://www.ussc.gov/guidelines/2018-guidelines-manual/annotated-2018-chapter-2-c#NaN) (which are important but not binding on a judge), or slightly less if he accepts responsibility and pleads guilty. > > Or Bannon can try to cooperate with the SDNY – which could offer him his best chance at a significant sentencing reduction. In my experience, the SDNY handles cooperation differently than many other prosecutors’ offices. Some prosecutors permit a defendant to cooperate only against certain defendants (typically, his indicted co-conspirators) or only on certain subject matters (usually the charge stated in the original indictment). But in the SDNY, cooperation is all-or-nothing. An SDNY cooperator must admit to every crime he has committed. And the cooperator must give up everything he knows about what others have done – even if the conduct, or the other people, go beyond the original charges in the indictment. > > If Bannon goes the cooperation route and fully comes clean, he stands to minimize his own potential prison time. But, to save himself, Bannon will very likely need to give the SDNY the ammunition it needs to take others down too. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/82 "2020-08-21T17:06:32Z")
> [@mjmlabs](#): > > But, to save himself, Bannon will very likely need to give the SDNY the ammunition it needs to take others down too. “Others”? What others could Bannon possibly know anything about, hmmmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/83 "2020-08-21T17:18:13Z")
OMG, could… Nathan _Lane_ be in jeopardy? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/84 "2020-08-21T17:18:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Pardon. Even Trump defrauds Trump supporters. And they line up for more. One of Radical Right’s whines is that liberals look down on them and disrespect them. It’s kind of hard not to, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/85 "2020-08-21T17:34:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > “WE TOLD YOU SO!!! From the beginning, we said this was a Bannon scheme to raise dark money for the administration & help [@FisherSandG](https://twitter.com/FisherSandG) defraud the government. We are sure there will be more coming out…Just wait!!! Oh, and SUCK IT, [@BrianKolfage](https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage)” > [@Gyrate](#): > > I love the phrase “I wish them well in their cavity searches”. Dang. Those butterflies can be harsh. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/86 "2020-08-21T17:45:14Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > It seems that it keeps getting dumber as you dig into it. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That could be said for most of the Trump Presidency. You’ve heard of transfinite numbers, various levels of infinity. That’s what we have with the current administration: transstupid. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/87 "2020-08-21T18:03:28Z")
> 🎵 You’re a fool if you think you can live your life without sharing sunshine and gladness. > If you think you can live without love, you’re building a wall of sorrow and madness. > > You’re building a wall to surround yourself. > You’re just building a wall to protect yourself. > You’re just building a wall to defend yourself. > But you’re building a wall that will break your heart! > 🎶 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8jtLTS7T8cc/hqdefault.jpg "The Selfish Giant (1971)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jtLTS7T8cc&t=214) From _The Selfish Giant_ animation from 1971, Oscar Wilde really saw through the lousy justifications that the powerful have to keep injustice and selfishness going. ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/88 "2020-08-21T19:11:41Z")
Man, not only is there always a tweet, apparently there’s also always a clip. Media Matters fires up the Wayback Machine, destination 2019: > **[Steve Bannon foreshadowed his own indictment for fraud](https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-foreshadowed-his-own-indictment-fraud)** Clip at the link above, transcript here: > From the June 24, 2019, YouTube stream of We Build The Wall’s “Wall-A-Thon” > > STEPHEN K. BANNON: Welcome back and this is Stephen K. Bannon. We’re off the coast of Saint-Tropez in southern France, in the Mediterranean. We’re on the million-dollar yacht of Brian Kolfage. Brian Kolfage – who took all that money from Build The Wall. > > No, we’re actually in Sunland Park, New Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/89 "2020-08-21T19:46:56Z")
Think about using a hydraulic press to do it, or maybe a car crusher. That’s a more satisfying mental image. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/90 "2020-08-21T20:10:13Z")
Bump, that actually really helped. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/91 "2020-08-21T21:25:07Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > > [@wguy123](#): > > > > Just a bit of schadenfreude thinking about these meatheads stealing from Trump supporters. OK, a lot of schadenfreude. 🤣 > > Honestly, I feel like starting a fund-raising organization targeted to Trump supporters saying I need money to do Trump stuff to support Trump. I could maybe pick up a few quick bucks? Absolutely. I’ve dropped this link in a couple of other threads but it’s delicious. The Trump campaign has only authorized one super PAC. All those other groups, some of them run by ex-campaign officials, aren’t authorized. They’re sucking up MAGAbucks and diverting most of it into their own pockets via consulting fees and the like. The Trump campaign really wants this to stop. So they asked nicely. No one stopped. All these groups are taking in money that would probably otherwise be donated to the real Trump campaign. And Trump can’t stop them. It’s not just the bad optics of going after groups like Bikers for MAGA and Veterans for Trump. It’s that, thanks to years of Republicans destroying campaign finance law, these groups are completely legal. So feel free to start your own. Thank you Citizens United. > **[Trump campaign plagued by groups raising tens of millions in his name](https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/23/trump-campaign-compete-against-groups-money-089454)** > > Outside entities are raising huge money in Trump's name, despite disavowals from the campaign, and spending little of it on 2020. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/92 "2020-08-21T21:34:22Z")
Hypothetically, how would one go about legally creating and legally profiting from a pro-Trump organization? Asking for a friend… ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/93 "2020-08-21T21:43:14Z")
Colbert had a very good series on how to set up a PAC a few years ago. Think it was on The Report. Put out some cheap fliers and signs that say, “Trump 2020, let’s hit rock bottom!” and call it a day. Keep the rest for yachts. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/94 "2020-08-21T22:14:58Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Yeah. I think though it was “The best-looking guy at the liquor store at midnight.” [His latest photo](https://compote.slate.com/images/50a4335f-a6ce-43b1-aa5f-b6833951a033.jpeg) outside the federal courthouse isn’t going to help him overcome that impression. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/95 "2020-08-21T22:36:30Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Colbert had a very good series on how to set up a PAC a few years ago. Think it was on The Report. Ah, yes, Colbert Super Pac. With it’s slogan “Building a better tomorrow, tomorrow.” That was maybe the greatest thing Colbert ever did on the Report. Funny and also informative about how simple it was to abuse the super PAC process. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/96 "2020-08-21T22:44:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I wonder if he could be squeezed into giving information on his former boss? Is a pardon in the works for “Sloppy Steve”? If so, it would have to be quick, and the clock is running. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/97 "2020-08-21T23:00:52Z")
It’s a victimless crime, like punching someone in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/98 "2020-08-21T23:35:05Z")
Thank you, **Ann\_Hedonia** , for the Politico article! I am ending my week with a smile. 😁 😆 Looks like the rubes are ripe for the picking. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/99 "2020-08-22T00:01:59Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > [His latest photo](https://compote.slate.com/images/50a4335f-a6ce-43b1-aa5f-b6833951a033.jpeg) outside the federal courthouse isn’t going to help him overcome that impression. Didn’t he spend some of that money on plastic surgery? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585/100 "2020-08-22T00:19:55Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > [His latest photo](https://compote.slate.com/images/50a4335f-a6ce-43b1-aa5f-b6833951a033.jpeg) outside the federal courthouse isn’t going to help him overcome that impression. Well, it’s good to see that he hasn’t been going to a barber during Covid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-bannon-arrested-in-alleged-fraud-scam-linked-to-border-wall/918585.md?page=6)