Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano explained on Thursday that former Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon could face up to a 20 year prison sentence if the government’s case against him holds up.
Napolitano touched on the allegations that Bannon defrauded donors through a charity that raised $25 million to build a border wall.
“This entity — We Build the Wall — promised its donors that not a penny — quote — not a penny would go into their pockets,” Napolitano explained. “So rather than putting the money directly into their pockets, they funneled it to third-party charities and those charities paid the money, according to the indictment, to Steve Bannon and to the others.”
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced Thursday that Bannon and other members of the “We Build the Wall” crowdfunding campaign were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“They are facing 20 years each,” he continued, “for the money that they paid themselves in defiance of their promise not to do so.”
Napolitano warned that Bannon will try to defend himself by claiming that he was entitled to a payment because other charities pay their officials.
“Their use of the third-party charities to actually pay them — so as to hide the payments from the donors and presumably from the government — is an effort to cover your trail,” the analyst noted. “Because they knew they had misled the donors.”
“It doesn’t look good for him right now,” Napolitano added.
Take a look at the discussion below: