Timothy Shea, one of the fraudsters behind the “We Build the Wall” campaign, was sentenced to more than five years in prison on Tuesday. Shea was charged alongside two other defendants—who pleaded guilty—in a scheme to defraud donors, who thought they were donating to Donald Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, Shea and his associates laundered a chunk of the $25 million raised, and Shea kept $180,000 for himself. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also charged for the hoax, but received a pardon from then-president Trump at the end of his term. Shea, 52, received the lengthiest prison sentence out of the three charged; handed 5-1/4 years prison time on Tuesday after being found guilty on two conspiracy counts and one count of obstruction of justice in Oct. 2022. Prosecutors argued that he used the “We Build the Wall” campaign funds as a “personal piggybank,” according to court papers.
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