On Thursday, federal authorities have arrested former White House adviser Steve Bannon in his involvement with a $25 million “Build a Wall” fundraiser.

According to the investigation, Bannon had defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors who wanted to help President Donald Trump build a 3-mile fence post in the South Texas border. The former White House advisor and three other organizers, including Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea, were also indicted.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the arrests on Friday, citing that the four men were all charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. In a statement by acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, she claimed that the four men had “capitalized” on people’s interest to fund the border wall, with a promise that all the donations will be directed to the construction. Bannon vowed that he would donate 100% of the proceeds to the building of the wall, when in fact, he and his co-conspirators used the money to fund their lavish lifestyles.

The men were able to rip large sums of cash from the fraud scheme. For example, Kolfage, a disabled Air Force veteran, as well as the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, received a total of $350,000. On the other hand, Bannon misdirected a whopping $1 million of the $25 million funds. At first, Kolfage claimed that the fundraiser was a way to fund President Donald Trump’s vision to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. While Bannon advertised the fundraiser as a “volunteer organization.”

However, when it is time to turn over the funds, the army veteran claimed that the government would not accept the money since it was a part of a private venture. He also assured donors that the organization’s bylaws would prevent him from taking a single cent. Interestingly, what makes it suspicious is that Kolfage failed to present the bylaws that he had stated.

Strauss said, “As alleged, the defendants defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction.” Strauss also declared their commitment to ensuring that the fraudster would be held accountable.

In another statement from Philip Bartlett, inspector-in-charge of the USPIS’s New York office, he claimed that the four men had “misrepresented ‘’’ what the funds are truly for. To hide their scheme, Bartlett claimed that the defendants had made fake invoices, hand accounts to cover up their crimes. He also warned that Bannon’’s indictment should serve as a warning against fraudsters that “no one is above the law’’ even if these people might be a powerful political strategist and disabled army veteran.

According to Breitbart News, the former White House adviser represented “nationalistic, outsider conservatism.” his outspoken views had led him to clash against other GOP advisors. His high-profile also “irked” the President that he had decided to fire Bannon in 2017. Bannon had also worked as a Hollywood producer, and had hosted a Trump podcast called the “War Room.”