Comment NEW YORK — Stephen K. Bannon is expected to surrender to state prosecutors Thursday to face new criminal charges, people familiar with the matter said, weeks after he was convicted of contempt of Congress and nearly two years after he was granted a federal pardon by President Donald Trump in federal fraud case. The exact details of the state case could not be confirmed Tuesday night. But people familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sealed indictment, suggested the indictment likely would mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was pardoned. In that indictment, prosecutors alleged that Bannon and several others defrauded contributors to a private, $25 million fundraising effort, called “Building the Wall,” receiving funds that donors told would support the construction of a dam along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which handles prosecutions at the state level, has been evaluating Bannon’s alleged involvement in the scheme since shortly after Trump’s pardon, the Washington Post reported in February 2021. Presidential pardons apply only to federal charges and cannot bar state prosecutions. Trump pardons Steve Bannon after nasty spat early in his presidency Bannon, a Trump’s former top strategist, who was briefly a White House aide, pleaded not guilty to federal charges in August 2020 after authorities pulled him from a luxury yacht and took him to court. He was accused of pocketing $1 million in the scheme. Months later, in the final hours of his presidency, Trump placed Bannon on a sweeping clemency list of about 140 people. Two other men, including disabled veteran Brian Kolfatz, pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with the fundraising scheme. A trial involving a third alleged participant, Timothy Shea, ended in a mistrial in June when a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The new state indictment comes less than two months after Bannon, 68, was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. The state case will be handled in New York State Supreme Court by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D). A spokesman for Bragg declined to comment when reached Tuesday night. However, three people familiar with the matter confirmed that Bannon is expected to surrender on Thursday. Steve Bannon found guilty Jan. 6 of contempt of court When reached for comment, Bannon issued a statement through his spokesman that described the indictment as “false accusations” and “nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.” The state effort to investigate Bannon in the border fraud scheme began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. In addition to the Bannon investigation, Bragg’s office also inherited a long-running investigation into Trump and his business practices. Last month, Trump’s longtime finance director, Allen Weiselberg, pleaded guilty in connection with a tax scheme. The Trump Organization is expected to go to trial in the tax case in October. Investigators from the New York State attorney general’s office worked with the district attorney’s attorneys to assist in both the Trump business practices case and the Bannon case. Bannon’s conviction in July for contempt of Congress in connection with the Jan. 6 investigation made him the closest Trump confidant to be charged criminally in the fallout from the attack on the US Capitol. The two-witness trial lasted just a week and found that Bannon had ignored a congressional subpoena to which he was legally required to respond.
