Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried released the following statement on the news that Brian G. Kolfage, of Miramar Beach, Florida, pled guilty to crimes charged in the Northern District of Florida. Kolfage entered a guilty plea on three federal charges related to filing false income tax returns for the tax year 2019 related to an investigation into the Florida-registered charity “We Build The Wall” initiated in May 2019 by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).
“As Florida’s consumer protection agency and charity regulator, we take accusations of fraud and charity abuse very seriously. We’re grateful to the U.S. Department of Justice and the federal and state partners who helped investigate this case, including FDACS’ Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement. I hope this guilty plea sends a strong message that anyone who attempts to defraud the people of Florida will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Commissioner Nikki Fried said.
Kolfage entered a guilty plea to three federal charges related to filing false income tax returns for the tax year 2019. With this plea, Kolfage admitted, under oath, that between January 2019 and July 2020, he engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States in relation to his 2019 federal income tax returns. Kolfage admitted receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple organizations during 2019, including We Build the Wall, Inc., which were deposited into his personal bank account. Kolfage failed to report this income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Upon learning of an investigation into his federal income taxes, Kolfage then filed amended tax returns for 2019 that were also false. These amended tax returns continued to falsely fail to report income deriving directly from We Build the Wall and indirectly from We Build the Wall after being routed through other organizations in order to obfuscate where the money came from.
Kolfage’s plea was entered in the District Court for the Southern District of New York along with a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for fraud related to donors of “We Build the Wall.”
Background: In May of 2019, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services opened an investigation into the charity known as “We Build The Wall.” Upon further investigation, the Department’s Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement subsequently referred the investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On August 20, 2020, the U.S. Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging Brian Kolfage, Stephen Bannon, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea regarding the “We Build The Wall” charity. Following precedent, and pursuant to s. 496.4191, Florida Statutes, the Department suspended the charity registration for “We Build The Wall.”
The full press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida can be found here.
