Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President-elect Donald Trump who is charged with defrauding donors in a border wall scheme, will not go to trial until late February, a judge ruled Monday.
The trial had been scheduled to begin in New York on Dec. 9, but prosecutors asked to introduce additional financial evidence that they say explains Bannon’s motive in participating in the alleged scheme, and Judge April Newbauer, a New York State Supreme Court acting justice, granted their motion.
Bannon’s trial is now set for Feb. 25, more than a month after Trump’s inauguration.
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Bannon in 2022 on charges of money laundering, scheming to defraud and conspiracy over his alleged role in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign. Prosecutors accused Bannon and three other people of siphoning donors’ money into their own pockets instead of using all of the funds to build a wall along the southern U.S. border.
Bannon faces up to 15 years if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and asserts the charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, are politically motivated.
The vocal Trump ally previously faced federal charges over his involvement in the scheme, to which he also pleaded not guilty. Trump pardoned Bannon as one of his final acts of his first term as president. Trump cannot pardon Bannon in the New York case.
Bannon recently served four months in prison for contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena to testify in the House Jan. 6 committee’s investigation. He was released the week before Election Day and immediately resumed spreading voter fraud conspiracy theories.
Bannon is likely to play a prominent role in advocating for Trump’s hard-line agenda through his “War Room” podcast and his influence in MAGA circles. He has also echoed Trump’s call to punish the president-elect’s political rivals.
