Steve Bannon charged with money laundering and conspiracy

The guru of the far-right in the United States, Steve Bannon, also influential in the close circle of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in Brazil, was accused this Thursday (8) of money laundering and conspiracy in an alleged fraud scheme to raise money. resources to build the wall that separates the country from Mexico, campaign banner of former President Donald Trump.

The process goes back to August 2020, when the “We Build the Wall” campaign raised about US$ 25 million (R$ 130 billion in the current conversion) in donations from individuals to carry out the proposal of the then president, from whom Bannon was a strategist at the beginning of his term.

Bannon was accused of embezzling $1 million from donations to pay personal expenses. He was arrested in August, but was later released., after posting a bond of US$ 5 million (R$ 26 million).

Hours before handing over the post of president to Democrat Joe Biden, on January 20, 2021, Trump granted, overnight, a presidential pardon to Bannon and 142 other political allies who had problems with justice.

The presidential pardon, however, shielded Bannon only from investigations at the federal level, and since last year there was an expectation that the process would go to the state level in New York, which occurs this Thursday.

The charges were brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Trump disaffected.

This is the latest offensive by the US justice system against the global right-wing ideologue, who was convicted in July of contempt for flouting subpoenas from the House committee investigating the invasion of the US Congress.

The New York prosecutor’s office also moves against Trump. In early August, the former president testified in a case that investigates alleged tax maneuvers by his companies – he only denied, however, that he would answer questions.