Andrew Badolato and Brian Kolfage, two of the principals in We Build The Wall, an alleged 501(c)(4) nonprofit established to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, have received prison sentences stemming from their actions in defrauding donors via online fundraising channels.
Badolato was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. In addition to pleading guilty to the conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Kolfage pled guilty to tax wire fraud charges, and received a total sentence of 51 months, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
In addition to the prison terms, both men were sentenced to three years of supervised release. Kolfage was ordered to forfeit $17,872,106 and pay $2,877,414. Badolato was ordered to forfeit $1,414,368 and additionally pay the same amount in restitution. Separately, United States District Judge Analisa Torres ordered the forfeiture of nearly $1.4 million in funds held by We Build the Wall, and property located in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on which the organization had constructed a portion of a 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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said via the statement. “The defendants have now been held accountable for their criminal conduct.”
A third defendant, Timothy Shea, was found guilty by trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstruction of justice. Shea is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Torres on June 13.
The initial charges stemmed from a GoFundMe campaign launched in December 2018. Kolfage, a combat-disabled U.S. Air Force veteran, had established an alleged nonprofit in 2019 called We Build The Wall, which incorporated the GoFundMe campaign. GuideStar searches turned up no evidence of such a nonprofit being registered or filing financial statement.
When the GoFundMe campaign was converted to We Build The Wall, the campaign’s 300,000 donors were required to opt in to the new nonprofit. As part of We Build The Wall’s promotional material and claims, all money raised was to go to wall construction, and Kolfage was not supposed to receive any compensation. But within a statement accompanying the plea agreement, “KOLFAGE, BADOLATO, and others received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations.” The principals used fake invoices and bogus vendor arrangements, among other methods, to transfer funds from the organization to themselves, according to the plea agreement.
Steve Bannon, an advisor to former President Donald J. Trump, had also been charged when the case was initially brought in August 2020. Bannon was pardoned by President Trump during Trump’s last days in office.
