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We Build The Wall Case Kolfage Got 51
Months Now SDNY Agrees to Early Release
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 6 –
The Southern District of New
York courthouse, which Inner
City Press has covered nearly
alone this summer amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, was jumping
on August 20, 2022 Video here.
In the afternoon, Steve Bannon
would appear in person before
a judge. After pleading not
guilty, he told the press as
he left the courthouse, "This
entire fiasco is to stop
people who want to build the
wall."
This came after
more than two hours of
chanting by three then six
people with flags, pro-Bannon:
"CCP violence, stop the
killing." Inner City Press
spoke with them, video here.
And see coverage
of Guo case here,
podcast here
On August
31, 2020 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Analisa Torres
held a proceeding, and Inner
City Press live tweeted it,
below.
On June 7, 2021
Judge Torres declared a
mistrial on all three counts.
Inner City Press live tweeted
it here
and below.
In the re-trial,
Shea was convicted. Then on
November 3, this from the US:
" on October 29, 2022—after
the jury returned a verdict on
October 28, 2022—one of the
undersigned Assistant United
States Attorneys (the “AUSA”)
received a communication from
an individual whom the
Government has learned is the
adult child of a juror
(“Person-1”)" full letter on
Patreon here.
After that
filing, as noted with sadness
by Inner City Press on
November 17, Shea's lawyer in
both trials John Maringolo
died: "He was an spunky as
ever during the Tim Shea
re-trial, very folksy with the
jury, and funny outside of the
courtroom too. This is very
unexpected and sad."
Shea was
appointed a new lawyer under
the Criminal Justice Act:
"ORDER as to Timothy Shea: The
C.J.A. attorney assigned to
receive cases on November 21,
2022, Thomas H. Nooter, is
hereby ordered to assume
representation of the
defendant in the above
captioned matter, nunc pro
tunc November 21, 2022."
On June 12, the
US Attorney's Office admitted
to an incorrect jury
instruction (wire fraud
conspiracy should not have
been described as meeting the
definition of specified
unlawful activity). Nooter
asked for delay to look into
previous, he says, ineffective
assistance of counsel. The new
date in July 25.
On July 14, Judge
Torres denied Shea's motions:
"Defendant has waived any
objection to the jury
instructions because the
parties jointly submitted a
proposed jury charge before
the first and second trials,
see Gill, 674 F. App’x at 58,
and Defendant did not object
to the Court’s proposed jury
charge at either trial. Having
jointly proposed the erroneous
jury instruction, which the
Court adopted at both trials,
Defendant has waived any
challenge to it."
On July 25, 2023,
Tim Shea was sentenced to 63
months.
During the trial,
Shea said he would call
Kolfage, who pleaded guilty,
as a witness. The US replied
it would allocute Kolfage as
to his Fifth Amendment
privilege. The US letter says,
"At the end of the trial day
yesterday, defendant Timothy
Shea confirmed on the record
he intends to call
co-defendant Brian Kolfage as
a defense witness." US letter
on Patreon here.
On April 26,
after the AUSA trashed Kolfage
for his web site(s), this:
"KOLFAGE was sentenced to 51
months in prison, and BADOLATO
was sentenced to 36 months in
prison, for their respective
roles in carrying out a scheme
to defraud hundreds of
thousands of donors in
connection with an online
crowdfunding campaign known as
“We Build The Wall” by
soliciting donations using
false statements and then
stealing the resulting
donations."
On May 6, 2025
the US Attorney's Office wrote
in of Kolfage, with
redactions, noting his
eligibility for transfer to
pre-release custody on August
5, 2025 and asking that he be
released time served.
Back on October
25, 2022 after a defense
opening argument that again
questioned venue or what we're
calling "District-shopping,"
the US again put on the stand
a witness from Synovus Bank.
Inner City Press live
tweeted here:
OK - now in We
Build the Wall re-trial of US
v. Shea, US again puts on
executive of Synovus Bank,
which banked for WBTW and
dealt with Kolfage.
Assistant US
Attorney asks: After you got
the subpoena from the Southern
District of NY, what did you
do?
Billue: I told We
Build the Wall. Then I read
the warning about not
disclosing the info.
Synovus'
Billue: Then I reached
out to Synovus' legal
department, 20 minutes after I
spoke to Rich Kaye. "I full
disclosed my error to the
bank."
A response
back from the bank saying "No
worries." [What did the
Federal Reserve ever do about
Synovus?]
The overall case
is USA v. Kolfage et al.,
1:20-cr-412 (Torres).
***
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