美国国家公共电台 NPR 特朗普前顾问班农涉嫌欺诈被起诉 交500万美元获保释（在线收听）

 Steve Bannon is a message guy. He helped hone President Trump's message of law and order and America first during the 2016 election, work that he continued as an adviser to the president after the election. But, today, the message was not guilty. Earlier today, Bannon was arrested and indicted along with three other men. They're accused of defrauding hundreds of thousands of people who donated to an online campaign to raise money to build a wall along the southern border.

史蒂夫·班农是名“信息员”。他曾在2016年总统大选期间帮助磨练特朗普总统的“法律与秩序”以及“美国优先”信息，他在大选后担任总统顾问期间仍在继续这项工作。而今天，他传达的信息是：无罪。今天早些时候，班农和另外三名男子被逮捕并被起诉。他们被控诈骗数十万人，这些人在修建南部边境墙的网络筹款行动中捐了款。

NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas joins us now. Hey, Ryan.

NPR新闻的司法记者瑞安·卢卡斯将和我们连线。你好，瑞安。

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.

瑞安·卢卡斯连线：你好。

CHANG: All right, so what exactly have Bannon and the other men been charged with here?

张：好，班农和其他人被指控的具体罪名是什么？

LUCAS: Well, all of the defendants face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bannon is the big name here, of course. He led Trump's campaign back in 2016, later served as an adviser in the White House. He's also, of course, the former chairman of Breitbart News, the conservative outlet. He was arrested on a yacht this morning off the Connecticut coast.

卢卡斯：所有被告均面临一项串谋电信欺诈罪和一项串谋洗钱罪。当然，班农是名人。他曾在2016年负责领导特朗普的竞选团队，之后担任了白宫顾问。他还是保守派媒体布赖特巴特新闻网的前任总裁。他于今天早上在康涅狄格州海岸附近的一艘游艇上被捕。

But there are three other defendants in this case. One of them is a man by the name of Brian Kolfage. He is an Iraq war veteran, a triple amputee. And he's the guy who founded what became the We Build the Wall campaign, which is at the center of this case. And that campaign raised around $25 million online...

但本案还有三名被告。其中一人名为布莱恩·科法奇。他是三肢截肢的伊拉克战争退伍军人。他就是“我们建墙”项目的创始人，该项目是本案的中心。这个项目在线上筹集了约2500万美元……

CHANG: Wow.

张：哇哦。

LUCAS: ...To help build a wall along the southern border.

卢卡斯：目的是帮助修建南部边境墙。

CHANG: OK, so what are prosecutors saying Bannon and these other men — what have they specifically done, according to the government?

张：好，具体来说，检方称班农和其他三人做了什么？

LUCAS: Well, what the indictment says is that We Build the Wall repeatedly promised donors that 100% of the money given to the campaign would go towards building the wall. They said that they wouldn't take a penny in compensation. But prosecutors say that, in the end, that just wasn't true. They say Bannon and the others siphoned off hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to line their own pockets. They allegedly funneled money through third parties and shell companies. They drew up fake invoices.

卢卡斯：起诉书显示，“我们建墙”项目一再向捐款者承诺，该项目所筹资金百分百会用于修墙。他们表示，他们一分钱报酬都不会收。但检方表示，最终这并非事实。检方称，班农和其他被告从捐款中抽走了数十万美元，以中饱私囊。他们涉嫌通过第三方和空壳公司筹钱。而且开具假发票。

According to the indictment, Bannon received around $1 million that was funneled through a nonprofit that he controlled. Some of that money he held onto himself; some of it he forwarded on to Kolfage. Prosecutors say that Kolfage got, in total, around $350,000 in donated money, money that he then used to pay for home renovations, to buy a boat, to buy a golf cart, among other things. And prosecutors say that the defendants knowingly hid all of this from the public. The indictment, in fact, cites a text message from Kolfage to a fellow defendant that read, quote, "as far as the public knows, no one is getting paid."

起诉书指出，班农从他控制的非营利机构处获得了约100万美元款项。其中部分款项他留作已用，剩余部分转给了科法奇。检方表示，科法奇个人从捐款中挪用了约35万美元，他用这些钱进行了房屋装修，并购买了船只、高尔夫球车和其他物品。检方称，被告故意对公众隐瞒了这一切。事实上，起诉书援引了科法奇发给另一名被告的短信，上面写道：“公众以为没有人得到报酬。”

CHANG: Well, have we heard yet from Bannon, personally?

张：班农个人有何回应？

唐纳德·特朗普总统：我已经很多年没和他打交道了。我想这是他参与的项目。

LUCAS: Bannon appeared in court today via video link. As you noted, he entered a plea of not guilty. They didn't say anything other than that. I will say, though, that the magistrate judge approved at this hearing his release on a $5 million bond.

卢卡斯：班农今天通过视频连接的方式出庭。如你所指，他提出无罪抗辩。除此之外，他们什么都没说。不过，我要说明的是，地方法官在这场听证会上准许班农以500万美元的保证金获释。

CHANG: OK. Well, as we said, Bannon was a close adviser to President Trump, although he did leave the administration in late 2017. So what has the White House had to say so far about this case?

张：好。我们刚才提到，班农曾是特朗普总统的亲密顾问，尽管他在2017年底离开了政府。那白宫对此案有何回应？

LUCAS: Well, the president was asked about Bannon this morning after news of Bannon's arrest broke. Here is a bit of what the president had to say.

卢卡斯：今天早上班农被捕的消息传出后，总统被问及此事。以下是总统的回答。

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

（录音档案）

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I haven't dealt with him at all over years now, literally years. And I guess this was a project he was involved in.

LUCAS: Trump also said that he didn't like the We Build the Wall project. He says he thought that it was being done for what he called showboat reasons. So the president was very much trying to distance himself from both Bannon and the wall campaign. Although I will say, just last month, in an interview with Fox News, Trump did have good things to say about Bannon. Now, the White House spokeswoman also put out a statement today trying to put distance between the president and Bannon, but — you know, saying that Trump hasn't been involved with Bannon since early in the administration. Still, Bannon was unquestionably a Trump insider, and he joins a long list of former Trump advisers to have faced federal charges.

卢卡斯：特朗普还说，他不喜欢“我们建墙”这个项目。他说，他认为这个项目的初衷是他所说的“炫耀性理由”。因此，总统在非常努力地撇清自已与班农和“我们建墙”项目的关系。不过，就在上个月，特朗普接受福克斯新闻台的采访时还说了班农的好话。白宫发言人今天也发表了声明，试图表明总统与班农事件无关，称特朗普从执政初期开始就未再和班农接触。尽管如此，班农无疑曾是特朗普圈内人，而现在，他也和特朗普的数任前顾问一样，面临着联邦指控。

CHANG: Right. That is NPR's Ryan Lucas. Thank you, Ryan.

张：好。以上是NPR新闻的瑞安·卢卡斯带来的报道。谢谢你，瑞安。

LUCAS: Thank you.

卢卡斯：谢谢。