Brian Kolfage agrees to plead guilty in 'We Build the Wall' federal fraud case

MIRAMAR BEACH — Local wounded warrior Brian Kolfage has entered an agreement with federal prosecutors in New York to plead guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge connected to the defrauding of donors to a nonprofit organization he founded in 2019 to collect donations for construction of sections of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a letter filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Kolfage also has agreed to plead guilty to three federal tax charges in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that are tangentially related to his nonprofit We Build The Wall Inc., according to the letter from New York prosecutors.

The letter said the Florida cases were consolidated with the New York case because of the likelihood that they would have been brought together for purposes of a change of plea hearing and sentencing.

Earlier reporting: Plea deal may be developing in 'We Build the Wall' cases

From 2020: Kolfage says politics, misunderstanding behind fraud conspiracy indictment

In Florida, Kolfage was indicted last year on charges that he received hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple organizations in 2019, including We Build the Wall Inc., which he failed to report to the IRS. He was subsequently indicted on an additional charge that he filed a false amended tax return in December 2020. That return was filed four months after the Southern District of New York indictment was announced.

Court documents do not indicate anything about the disposition of a second New York charge against Kolfage of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

An Air Force veteran who lost both legs and his right hand and forearm in a 2004 rocket attack in Iraq, Kolfage subsequently turned his attention to an array of conservative causes, including the border wall that became a focus of the administration of President Donald Trump.

We Build The Wall Inc. at one point held $25 million in donations, more than $8 million of which was used to build a 1-mile section of wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico. An additional $1.5 million was provided to a contractor pursuing a 3.5-mile section of wall in Mission, Texas.

According to Kolfage, the nonprofit subsequently worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to investigate potential projects with which the department indicated it might have needed some help. Also, Kolfage said the nonprofit switched some of its work to education and advocacy on border issues.

Contacted via voice message and text message on Friday for comment, Kolfage did not return the voice message, but did respond with a cryptic text message on the plea agreement.

"They Michael Flynn'd me," he wrote.

Asked for clarification, Kolfage texted, "That's all I can really say at the moment ...," before going on to write that "... after it's all said and done, I'll give you a full interview."

Given Kolfage's decidedly conservative politics, his reference likely was to Michael Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former national security adviser in the Trump administration.

Flynn pleaded guilty in federal court to lying about contacts with a Russian diplomat regarding sanctions imposed on Russia in connection with that country's interference in the 2016 U.S. election, even as conservative media figures pressed the case that Flynn was innocent.

Flynn later moved to change his plea, with prosecutors urging that he not be allowed to do so. Flynn was pardoned by Trump in the last weeks of his administration for any possible crimes he might have committed in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation of Russian interference in the election.

A change of plea hearing for Kolfage has been scheduled for 2 p.m. April 21 in front of U.S. District Court Judge Analisa Torres, according to court filings. A copy of the fully executed plea agreement was submitted to Torres on March 31, court filings indicate.

Outside of whatever plea agreement Kolfage has reached with prosecutors — court documents provide no details — the charges could carry a sentence of as much as 60 years in prison.

Kolfage was indicted nearly two years ago by a Southern District of New York grand jury along with three codefendants on charges alleging, in part, that more than $350,000 in donations to We Build The Wall Inc. were steered to Kolfage despite his assertions that he would not accept a salary from the organization.

Also indicted in the scheme was Steve Bannon, a former political strategist for Trump, who allegedly steered $1 million that was donated to We Build The Wall Inc. into a separate nonprofit organization that he controlled. Trump pardoned Bannon in 2020 in the waning hours of the Trump administration.

Still facing the New York charges are two other Kolfage codefendants, Colorado businessman Timothy Shea and Florida financier Andrew Badolato. Shea likely is headed for trial May 19 and Badolato is scheduled for trial June 21, according to court filings.

A filing this week in Shea's case indicates that New York prosecutors are pursuing additional charges against him. In the filing, prosecutors notify Shea's attorney of evidence that Shea, his wife and Kolfage conspired to backdate checks steering money from We Build The Wall Inc. to a now-dissolved property management company and then to Kolfage.

The filing also cites evidence that Shea and Kolfage misappropriated $38,500 from We Build the Wall Inc. "as a purported 'loan' " to an energy drink company in which they both were involved.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Kolfage enters plea deal on federal charges in New York and Florida