Ordinary Americans allocated donations for President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico. However, his former chief strategist and campaign chair Steve Bannon is accused of diverting $1 million to his own account. Three other individuals are also accused of having enriched themselves in the scheme.

What Did Bannon Allegedly Do?

Bannon, the former head of Donald Trump’s campaign and later chief strategist in the White House was arrested on Thursday for fraud. He and three accomplices, who were also arrested on Thursday, allegedly embezzled more than one million dollars that ordinary Americans had donated to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The charges are according to indictments from a New York state attorney.

Prosecutors believe that Bannon was the head of the plot. They allege that he helped launch a fundraising campaign in 2018, calling on Trump supporters to donate money to build the wall. The face of the “We Build The Wall” campaign was Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, who was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2004 and is one of the four men arrested.

According to the indictment, the hundreds of thousands of donors were led to believe that every cent would flow into a border wall. Trump initially promised its construction during his presidential campaign and in the early years of his presidency, however, he failed to secure sufficient funds from Congress.

More Than $25 Million Was Crowdfunded to Build the Wall

More than $ 25 million was raised for the project, which Trump claims to date that Mexico will bear the costs. However, Bannon is now accused of having diverted more than a=one million dollars into his own accounts and also ensured that hundreds of thousands of dollars were forwarded to Kolfage in order to finance his luxury life, the indictment claims.

In turn, Bannon allegedly utilized the money for “personal expenses” of several hundred thousand dollars. Half a year after the fundraising began in December 2018, “We Build The Wall” utilized part of the money to build a steel fence about one kilometer long on private land near the Texas border city of El Paso.

Involvement of the US Postal Service

The New York Postal Inspector was also involved in the investigation that led to the arrests and charges. According to him, the defendants forged receipts and other documents to cover up the embezzlement. When scammers use the US Federal Post Office, their crime is a case for federal prosecutors. In addition to Bannon and Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea have also been charged.

Bannon is considered the architect of Trump’s election victory, following which he came to the White House as chief strategist. Within months he fell out with Trump and left the White House.

The Trump Admin Stays Quiet

In response to Bannon’s arrest, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany stated on Thursday that the president had not had any contact with Bannon since then.

Last year, Bannon concentrated on networking European right-wing populists with one another to bring his fight against the “Class of Davos” to Europe and contribute to the dissolution of the European Union. However, in the end, he had little influence on the outcome of the European elections or any increased cooperation of the Eurosceptic parties.

Bannon Pleads Not Guilty

Bannon has already pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges in a New York court. Judge Stewart Aaron ruled Thursday that Bannon would be released on bail of five million dollars. Of this, Trump’s ex-advisor has to deposit $1.75 million as security. Aaron also imposed a travel ban for areas outside of the northeastern United States and Bannon has to hand in his passport.

While Bannon remains innocent until proven guilty, it appears that Bannon’s shtick of being the last line of defense between the “elites” and hardworking Americans may well have been exposed. This footage of him joking about stealing the border wall money certainly won’t increase his chances of a favorable outcome to the situation.

L'articolo Trump’s Former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon Arrested proviene da InsideOver.

New charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds and against leading figures in the so-called ‘Syrian Coalition’ opposition body have surfaced in recent days, shedding more light on the corruption and betrayal of trust once bestowed by anti-government rebels upon those who were supposed to safeguard the interests of their ‘revolution’. Accusations of corruption included the former Qatari and Saudi-backed Head of Coalition along with some prominent figures who appear to have amassed illegal personal fortunes on the back of the Syrian ‘revolution’ which broke out in March 2011.

The anti-Syrian government STEP News network has released a fresh report on social media platforms accusing former Head of the Syrian Coalition Ahmad Al Jarba and key opposition lady figure and former Head of Support Coordination Unit in the Coalition, Suheir Al Atassi, who quit her post and left the coalition altogether March 2015, of embezzling millions of US dollars from money donated to the Syrian opposition and its leading political body. In its new video report, Step News highlighted that the Syrian opposition leadership which was formed partly to” combat corruption within the ‘regime’, was itself plagued with bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation of political funds and high-level corruption scandals of its own.”

Opposition Network Publishes Fresh Corruption Scandals

The opposition news network claims that worst cases of embezzlement took place under the cover of the Syrian Coalition itself, particularly during the presidency of Ahmad Al Jarba whom it says has been trying to reconcile with the government in Damascus through enlisting the mediation of the Russians. STEP News maintains that it has received information from certain ‘sources’ that “Al Jarba had deposited some $70 million in several EU bank accounts, most were opened in the name of his cousin Ali Assi Al Jarba.”

The network goes on to claim that documents have proved Al Jarba had spent large funds on “fake” expenses in favor of his brother during the former’s presidency of the coalition in 2013. “In that same year, Al Jarba took possession of $85 million out of a $100 million Saudi grant to the coalition, and deposited the seized money in personal bank accounts in Kurdish-controlled Erbil, Iraq,” STEP News claimed. Sami Al Ereidi, a leading figure in Al Nusra terror group had accused Al Jarba of embezzling another $75 million dedicated to treating wounded rebels. The network claims that “Al Jarba has bought his way up the opposition ranks to the Presidency of the Syrian Coalition through bribes and vote-buying spending $5-10 million under an article called ‘from my own money’ squandering coalition money on his aids and supporters,” STEP News reiterated. Other charges filed against Ahmad Al Jarba include faking his university degree and other misdemeanours.

More Shame Smacks Coalition Quitters

In 2015, Suheir Al Atassi resigned from the Syrian Coalition against a backdrop of embezzlement charges. “She was then accused of stealing $20 million from external grants and aid packages dedicated to Syrian refugees at camps in neighboring countries,” STEP News claimed. Atassi then responded to the accusations by stating that she has “documents that indict all members of the coalition”. One year later, opposition sources reported that Attasi had bought real estates in Washington, DC including a plot of land worth $12 million. Another opposition figure, Kamal Al Labwani has recently accused Al Atassi of embezzling a $5 million American grant. Lately leaked documents reveal more embezzlement scandals within the coalition, including “the disappearance of $400,000 from the Makkah Office during Hajj (Pilgrimage) seasons between 2013-2015,” STEP News reported.

Although similar incidents of corruption, embezzlement and extortion had been common among Syrian rebel and opposition groups in the early years of the Syria conflict, particularly in Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, where videotaped fiery exchanges were released of rebel leaders fighting over the embezzlement of millions of dollars by leader of Al Rahman Corps and other militia commanders in the area, recently published accusations against top opposition figures are bound to further discredit their cause and erode any remaining credibility they might have once enjoyed among their rank and file supporters.

While the timing and real purpose of newly-released corruption charges against some leading opposition and coalition figures remain relatively opaque, they demist the fact that whilst ordinary Syrians were being used as fodder for the nine-year-old war that has ravaged their country and destroyed their everyday life, their bosses in five-star hotels in Turkey, Europe, Gulf Arab countries and elsewhere have been little than a bunch of corrupt individuals and war profiteers on the back of an ill-fated and clinically dead ‘revolution’.

L'articolo Fresh Embezzlement Charges Against Syrian Opposition Leaders proviene da InsideOver.