Steve Bannon Stiffing His Lawyers May Come Back to Bite Him

A civil lawsuit against former White House senior adviser Steve Bannon could expose him to additional legal problems related to border wall donors and a separate criminal case.

One case involving a law firm suing Bannon for retainer fees could be tied to him allegedly defrauding border wall donors. Bannon's lawyer, Harlan Protass, argued in a January 11 court filing in New York that if the firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP can access Bannon's bank accounts and documents, it could potentially reveal information that could affect his criminal cases associated with funds supposedly accrued for a privately funded wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Deposing Bannon "poses a significant risk of compromising" his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination with respect to both the federal and state criminal cases, Protass wrote.

Newsweek reached out to Protass and Bannon via email and text for comment.

Last July, Bannon was ordered to pay the law firm more than $480,000 in unpaid retainer fees. The firm, which represented the conservative commentator who helped get Donald Trump elected president in 2016 and later worked in his White House, had sued Bannon for breach of contract related to several cases and said at the time he paid only $375,000 of the more than $850,000 billed by the firm.

Bannon is alleged to have defrauded thousands of people who donated about $15 million to the "We Build the Wall" fundraising campaign. He is scheduled to stand trial in May in Manhattan for allegedly scheming donors who purportedly gave money towards a border wall.

The firm represented him for his refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify as part of the House Select Committee's investigation into the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon was later found guilty of contempt of Congress but has not gone to jail as he awaits his appeal.

Robert Costello, a member of the firm, was at the center of the legal battle when Bannon faced with criminal charges of pocketing donor funds intended for a privately funded wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Costello once served as a legal adviser to Trump's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, a key witness in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's criminal indictment of the ex-president—a historical first—for alleged hush money payments.

Newsweek reached out to Costello via email for comment.

In a July 9, 2022, letter to Bannon and Costello, Trump said he would waive executive privilege as he had "watched how unfairly you and others have been treated" by the "Unselect Committee of political Thugs and Hacks."

He also wrote that the firm's "aggressive" post-judgment discovery campaign seeks information involving Bannon's deposit, savings, checking, credit line, equity line or other accounts—in addition to all monies or other assets owed to him, and all assets owned by him of any kind and whether they were held singly or jointly with any other person or entity and not previously identified.

Following last year's ruling, Protass told NBC News, "The judge's decision was clearly wrong and we intend to immediately appeal."

On Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors said in a new legal filing that Bannon's attempt to dismiss the related charges "bears little resemblance to reality," according to ABC News. Bannon has pleaded not guilty.

The charges allege that Bannon falsely promised that none of the money donors gave would be used to pay the salary of "We Build the Wall" President Brian Kolfage, who was not supposed to take a penny of compensation.

Bannon allegedly laundered money through third-party entities and paid Kolfage—who testified before a grand jury that he thought funds were coming from a different Bannon-run nonprofit, Citizens of the American public—an upfront payment of $100,000 and monthly payments of about $20,000.