- Steve Bannon has been charged in Manhattan with money laundering, conspiracy, and scheme to defraud.
- Trump's former White House advisor could get as little as probation even if convicted of all five charges.
- The charges are less severe than in the same federal 'We Build the Wall' case Trump pardoned him on.
Right-wing agitator Steve Bannon, the former White House advisor to Donald Trump, is set to plead not guilty Thursday to a new Manhattan indictment alleging he conspired to launder money and commit fraud through a sham "We Build the Wall" charity.
The 2018 charity had promised its GoFundMe donors that 100 percent of donations would go toward building a wall on private property along the US-Mexico border; ultimately $25 million was raised, but only three miles of fencing was built, authorities have said.
The new charges, released by the Manhattan district attorney's office Thursday morning after Bannon turned himself in, pick up where Trump's pardon in a related federal case left off.
Read Bannon's new 'We Build the Wall' donor-scam indictment here.
Trump's pardon, issued the night before he left office and before Bannon could face trial in federal court, made that case go away but does not protect him from Thursday's charges, thanks in large part to a 2019 New York law that makes it tougher for presidential pardon recipients to fight related state cases.
"It's a crime to turn a profit by lying to donors, and in New York, you will be held accountable," Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement that called Bannon the architect of a multi-billion dollar scheme that defrauded thousands of donors across the country, including "hundreds of Manhattan residents."
"Each and every day, my office works to ensure that when New Yorkers hand over money, they know where it's going and who it's going to — without any smokescreens or false promises."
The office of New York's attorney general, Letitia James, partnered with Bragg's office in winning the indictment, he said.
None of the five charges carry mandatory jail time, and the top count, second-degree money laundering, carries a maximum of 15 years. The 2020 federal charges on the same "We Build the Wall" donor-scam allegations — the case Trump pardoned Bannon on — had carried a maximum of 20 years prison.
It is unclear why Manhattan prosecutors did not get an indictment on grand larceny.
The federal indictment had alleged that Bannon stole in excess of one million dollars, and that allegation under state law could have supported a first degree grand larceny charge carrying a mandatory one year prison.
But jurisdictional concerns may have intervened. The Manhattan DA only has jurisdiction over victims that live in the borough and money that moved through its financial institutions.
The hundreds of Manhattanites that Manhattan prosecutors say gave to "We Build the Wall" may have donated insignificant sums, and all of the banks that the federal indictment said were involved in related transactions are based outside New York.
We Build the Wall, Inc, which is also under indictment, is based in Florida.
Bannon had maintained he was innocent throughout the federal prosecution; he will remain in custody pending his arraignment Thursday afternoon before New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
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