Brian Kolfage stole $350K from 'We Build the Wall' donations, spent on boats and plastic surgery: Prosecutors
An Iraq war veteran who set up a GoFundMe to raise money to build President Donald Trump's wall used hundreds of thousands of dollars collected from donors on boats, an SUV, jewelry, home renovations, plastic surgery, and credit card debt, prosecutors have alleged. Brian Kolfage, a triple amputee and celebrated war veteran who was a recipient of the Purple Heart, one of the country's highest military honors, had set up the GoFundMe in December 2018. He said he was sick of "too many illegals... taking advantage of the United States taxpayers," and "political games from both parties" and wanted to show there was enormous support for a border wall with Mexico.
He was quickly proven correct. By the end of the month, people from around the country had come together to donate more than $20 million to Kolfage's cause, which the president himself distanced himself from and did not acknowledge. Nonetheless, he assured all the donors that he would "never take a penny" from the fund, a promise that prosecutors say he broke repeatedly over the course of the next two years. In court filings charging Kolfage, 38, with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, prosecutors said the veteran hired co-conspirators Steve Bannon, Timothy Shea, and Andrew Badolato in his embezzling scheme after GoFundMe threatened to void his campaign over concerns about where the money was going.
Bannon subsequently formed 'We Build the Wall Inc,' a shell company that he used to take money from the GoFundMe account to pay himself, Shea, Badolato, and Kolfage. He reportedly gave Kolfage a $20,000-a-month salary from the donated funds, as well as a one-off $100,000 payment.
Prosecutors said they tried to make these payments look less suspicious by making some of the payments to Kolfage's wife, Ashley, and labeling them as "media" fees. They also marked payments by stating they were for services like "consulting" and "social media."
These illicit payments to Kolfage weren't just made from Bannon's shell company either and that the scheme was multi-layered. The indictment alleges that in April 2019, Shea formed a company and received a $50,000 payment from We Build The Wall, half of which went to Kolfage. On May 21 that year, another payment of $30,000 came to Shea's shell company, of which $20,000 went to the veteran as payments for "social media."
Baltonato was also accused of taking $50,000 from the charity account, putting it in a check, and then giving the check to an associate who gave $20,000 of it to Kolfage. In August 2019, prosecutors said he facilitated a $150,000 payment from the charity to a construction contractor who gave almost half to the veteran.
In all, Kolfage was accused of pilfering as much as $350,000 from the GoFundMe account that he allegedly then spent on home renovations, boat payments, an SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, personal tax payments, and credit card debt.
His wife regularly shows off their lavish lifestyle on her Instagram account and to her 300,000-odd followers on TikTok, with several photos and videos taken at their $290,000 home in Miramar on the Florida panhandle. There also pictures of a $600,000 boat that Kolfage insists was purchased before he set up the GoFundMe but which prosecutors believe is further proof of fraud.