Colorado Man Sentenced To Prison For “We Build The Wall” Online Fundraising Fraud Scheme
summary
Timothy Shea was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the "We Build The Wall" crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $25 million through false promises that all
paragraph
Timothy Shea was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the "We Build The Wall" crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $25 million through false promises that all funds would be used for border wall construction. Shea, along with co-defendants Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for personal use and concealed these payments using fake invoices and sham contracts. Shea was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice, resulting in an order to forfeit $1,801,707 and pay that same amount in restitution. While Shea faces the longest sentence among the three, co-defendants Kolfage and Badolato received 51 and 36 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the conspiracy.
narrative
Timothy Shea was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the "We Build The Wall" crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $25 million through false promises that all funds would be used for border wall construction. Shea, along with co-defendants Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for personal use and concealed these payments using fake invoices and sham contracts. Shea was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice, resulting in an order to forfeit $1,801,707 and pay that same amount in restitution. While Shea faces the longest sentence among the three, co-defendants Kolfage and Badolato received 51 and 36 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the conspiracy. Timothy Shea was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the "We Build The Wall" crowdfunding campaign, which raised over $25 million through false promises that all funds would be used for the border wall. Shea, along with co-defendants Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato, diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for personal use and concealed these payments using fake invoices and sham contracts. Shea was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice, resulting in an order to forfeit $1,801,707 and pay that amount in restitution. The scheme also involved Kolfage, who received over $350,000 personally, and resulted in separate prison sentences for the other principal defendants.
Classified financial-fraud(confidence 95%). EDGAR detection: forms 10-K/10-Q/8-K/NT 10-K· recall 67% / precision 23%. detection rule →
Parties
andrew badolatobrian kolfagedamian williamsjudge analisa torrestimothy shea
Keywords
build wallbuildwallprisonfraudschemekolfagesheafraud schemehundreds thousandslinkdonorsprison buildwall onlineonline fundraising
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 4
- $25.00M $25,000,000 $10M–$100M
- $1.80M $1,801,707 $1M–$10M
- $1.80M $1,801,707 $1M–$10M
- $350K $350,000 $100K–$1M
Entities 6
- person andrew badolato
- person brian kolfage
- scheme_term conspiracy to commit wire fraud
- person damian williams
- person judge analisa torres
- person timothy shea
Triples 13
- Timothy Shea sentenced to 63 months in prison
- Timothy Shea convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice
- Timothy Shea ordered to forfeit $1,801,707
- Timothy Shea ordered to pay restitution $1,801,707
- Timothy Shea participated in scheme to defraud We Build The Wall online crowdfunding campaign
- Brian Kolfage pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud
- Brian Kolfage sentenced to 51 months in prison
- Brian Kolfage took for personal use more than $350,000 in donor funds
- Andrew Badolato pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud
- Andrew Badolato sentenced to 36 months in prison
- We Build The Wall raised more than $25,000,000
- Damian Williams announced sentencing of Timothy Shea
- Judge Analisa Torres sentenced Timothy Shea to 63 months in prison
Extracted body text (4,598c)
Press Release Colorado Man Sentenced To Prison For “We Build The Wall” Online Fundraising Fraud Scheme Tuesday, July 25, 2023 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TIMOTHY SHEA was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to 63 months in prison for his role 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, as well as laundering the proceeds of the fraud scheme and attempting to obstruct the federal criminal investigation of the scheme. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Timothy Shea abused the trust of donors to ‘We Build the Wall,’ stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to line his own pockets, and attempted to obstruct the federal investigation of his criminal conduct. The defendant has now been held accountable and faces prison time for his crimes.” According to court filings and evidence introduced during court proceedings: Starting in approximately December 2018, TIMOTHY SHEA, his co-defendants BRIAN KOLFAGE and ANDREW BADOLATO, and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25,000,000 to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised…will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose.” Those representations were lies. In truth, KOLFAGE, BADOLATO, SHEA, and others received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations. For example, KOLFAGE covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall. To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BADOLATO, SHEA, and others devised a scheme to route those payments through entities and bank accounts that they controlled. They took various steps to obscure or conceal these payments, including by using fake invoices and sham contracts — conduct for which SHEA was convicted at trial of obstruction of justice. * * * SHEA, 52, of Castle Rock, Colorado, was convicted after trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice. In addition to the prison term, SHEA was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $1,801,707 and pay restitution in the amount of $1,801,707. KOLFAGE, 41, of Miramar Beach, Florida, and BADOLATO, 58, of Cocoa, Florida, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. KOLFAGE also pled guilty to tax and wire fraud charges originally filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida. KOLFAGE was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and BADOLATO was sentenced to 36 months in prison. Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison G. Moe, Nicolas Roos, Robert B. Sobelman, and Derek Wikstrom are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Christopher de Grandpre and Andrea Gieseman. Contact Nicholas Biase (212) 637-2600 Updated July 25, 2023 Topic Financial Fraud Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 23-263
OCR text (4,598c · html-text · 99% conf)
Press Release Colorado Man Sentenced To Prison For “We Build The Wall” Online Fundraising Fraud Scheme Tuesday, July 25, 2023 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TIMOTHY SHEA was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres to 63 months in prison for his role 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, as well as laundering the proceeds of the fraud scheme and attempting to obstruct the federal criminal investigation of the scheme. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Timothy Shea abused the trust of donors to ‘We Build the Wall,’ stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to line his own pockets, and attempted to obstruct the federal investigation of his criminal conduct. The defendant has now been held accountable and faces prison time for his crimes.” According to court filings and evidence introduced during court proceedings: Starting in approximately December 2018, TIMOTHY SHEA, his co-defendants BRIAN KOLFAGE and ANDREW BADOLATO, and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors, including donors in the Southern District of New York, in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign ultimately known as “We Build The Wall” that raised more than $25,000,000 to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. In particular, to induce donors to donate to the campaign, KOLFAGE repeatedly and falsely assured the public that he would “not take a penny in salary or compensation” and that “100% of the funds raised…will be used in the execution of our mission and purpose.” Those representations were lies. In truth, KOLFAGE, BADOLATO, SHEA, and others received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds from We Build the Wall, which they each used in a manner inconsistent with the organization’s public representations. For example, KOLFAGE covertly took for his personal use more than $350,000 in funds that donors had given to We Build the Wall. To conceal the payments to KOLFAGE from We Build the Wall, KOLFAGE, BADOLATO, SHEA, and others devised a scheme to route those payments through entities and bank accounts that they controlled. They took various steps to obscure or conceal these payments, including by using fake invoices and sham contracts — conduct for which SHEA was convicted at trial of obstruction of justice. * * * SHEA, 52, of Castle Rock, Colorado, was convicted after trial of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice. In addition to the prison term, SHEA was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $1,801,707 and pay restitution in the amount of $1,801,707. KOLFAGE, 41, of Miramar Beach, Florida, and BADOLATO, 58, of Cocoa, Florida, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. KOLFAGE also pled guilty to tax and wire fraud charges originally filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida. KOLFAGE was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and BADOLATO was sentenced to 36 months in prison. Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alison G. Moe, Nicolas Roos, Robert B. Sobelman, and Derek Wikstrom are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialists Christopher de Grandpre and Andrea Gieseman. Contact Nicholas Biase (212) 637-2600 Updated July 25, 2023 Topic Financial Fraud Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 23-263