Two Florida residents stole money raised for Trump's border wall

U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres sentenced Brian Colfidge and Andrew Badolato. They received 4 years and 2 months and 3 years in prison respectively for their roles in running a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as We Build The Wall. This is stated on the site. US Department of Justice.

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The two collected donations using false claims and then stole the donations they received.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Brian Colfige and Andrew Badolato abused donor trust in We Build the Wall and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to line their own pockets. The defendants are now being held accountable for their criminal behavior.”

Beginning around December 2018, Colfige, Badolato, their co-defendant Timothy Shea, and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors from the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign known as We Build The Wall. The campaign raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. Specifically, to encourage donors to donate to the campaign, Colfige repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he "won't take a dime in salary or compensation" and that "100% of the funds raised will be used for missions and purpose."

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But in fact, Colfige, Badolato, Shea and others received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a way inconsistent with the organization's public statements.

Colfige, for example, secretly took more than $350 from donor funds for We Build the Wall for personal use. To cover up Colfige's theft from We Build the Wall, the defendants devised a scheme to channel payments through entities and bank accounts they controlled.

They have taken various steps to hide these payments, including using fake invoices and fictitious contracts.

Judge Torres noted that "this was no ordinary financial scam" because when the victims donated to We Build the Wall, "they were expressing their opinion on a political issue that was important to them." Noting that this crime called into question the effectiveness of political participation and that the scheme would certainly have a deterrent effect on political donations, Judge Torres observed that "the fraud perpetrated by Colfige and Badolato goes far beyond defrauding individual donors."

Colfige, 41, of Miramar Beach, Florida, and Badolato, 58, of Cocoa, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

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In addition, Colfige pleaded guilty to tax fraud and wire fraud, originally filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Florida.

Shea, 52, of Castle Rock, Colorado, was convicted following a trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice, which Judge Torres will deliver on June 13, 2023.

Colfige was sentenced, among other things, to three years' probation with forfeiture of $17 and restitution of $872. Badolato was sentenced to three years' probation with forfeiture of $106 and restitution of $2. In addition, Judge Torres separately ruled confiscate $877 from funds owned by We Build the Wall and real estate located in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on which We Build the Wall built part of the wall.

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