President Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon was indicted for his alleged role in a scam that raked in $25 million, along with a Castle Rock man who helped set up the GoFundMe page.

Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Philip R. Bartlett, inspector-in-charge of the New York Field Office, unsealed indictments on Thursday morning for Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea.

Shea, a realtor from Castle Rock, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to a Department of Justice release.

Shea also owns a company called Winning Energy, which is a non-alcoholic drink that claims it’s made of “liberal tears.”

Shea’s wife, Amanda, is the organization’s treasurer and chief financial officer, and a former writer for the conservative news site FreedomDaily. She told 9News in 2018 that they helped set up the GoFundMe page with Kolfage. 

According to Federal Election Commission records, Amanda Shea made two $2,800 contributions in 2019, to the Trump Victory Fund and the Trump, listing We Build the Wall as her employer. 

Tim Shea is “just the face of it, because he’s really good at that, and I do a lot of the back-end stuff,” Amanda Shea said during a Skype interview with 9News.

The four men led the “We Build the Wall” fundraiser that sought donations to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which was a 2016 campaign promise from President Trump. 

“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 said in a statement.

“While repeatedly assuring donors that Brian Kolfage, the founder and public face of We Build the Wall, would not be paid a cent, the defendants secretly schemed to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to Kolfage, which he used to fund his lavish lifestyle,” she continued. “We thank the USPIS for their partnership in investigating this case, and we remain dedicated to rooting out and prosecuting fraud wherever we find it.”

The 24-page grand jury indictment seeks all property, including cash, tied to the organization, including a U.S. Bank account controlled by Tim Shea. The indictment also seeks a boat, docked in Destin, Florida, and purchased by one of the defendants — presumably Kolfage — with money he received from We Build the Wall. Kolfage and Bannon sponsored a July 4 President Trump Boat Parade in Destin, which is featured in posts on Winning Energy’s Facebook page. The New York Times’ Evan Hill tweeted that the boat — Warfighter — was used in the July 4 event.

Shea’s involvement included setting up a shell company — identified in the indictment as Shell Company 1 — which funneled at least $45,000 in payments to Kolfage, who received a total of $350,000. Shea is also accused of using We Build the Wall donor funds for personal expenses. 

The advisory board for We Build the Wall also includes Republican Tom Tancredo of Lakewood, a former member of Congress and a three-time candidate for governor, most recently in 2018. In 2019, Tancredo, along with Kolfage and Donald Trump Jr., participated in several fundraisers for the organization. The Trump Organization issued a statement Thursday on behalf of Trump Jr., stating that he only participated in one fundraiser and did not give We Build the Wall permission for the endorsement that is prominently featured on the website.

In June, Tancredo discussed the project’s progress, telling the Arizona Republic that the organization’s experience would serve as a model for other efforts. “We’re cheaper and we’re quicker, and we’re more effective and efficient,” Tancredo said. “And so it’s only logical that if you want something done right, you will let private contractors do it.”

Tancredo, a longtime hawk on immigration, did not respond to a request for comment. However, he told 9News via text that he had not been contacted by the authorities, and that he couldn’t imagine that Bannon, who he knows well, would be this “this careless or this dumb.”

Tom Tancredo, who is on the “We Build a Wall” advisory board, just sent me this via text. #9News pic.twitter.com/Rotj2EUnIG

— Marshall Zelinger (@Marshall9News) August 20, 2020

While building a wall between the United States and Mexico has been a campaign and administration pledge by the president, and one in which he claimed repeatedly that Mexico would pay for, Trump last month claimed the effort by We Build the Wall was intended to make him look bad.

According to the Texas Tribune, the contractor hired by We Build The Wall to build a 3-mile segment that has shown signs of crumbling also won a $1.7 billion contract in May from the Trump administration. 

As reported by NBC News’ Hallie Jackson, President Trump’s press secretary issued a statement Thursday morning claiming that the president had not been involved with Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the administration (Bannon was the campaign’s CEO and after the election served as the president’s chief strategist until August 2017) and that the president did not know the people involved with the project. However, Kris Kobach, also a member of the advisory committee, told the New York Times in January 2019 that he had gotten the president’s blessing via a phone conversation. 

Amanda Shea and Kolfage also thanked the president for his support, in several tweets, including one just a month ago. Shea also claimed she met with the president in August 2019 in New York about the wall project. 

Had the pleasure of meeting with @realDonaldTrump personally last week in the Hamptons, answered very specific questions about the wall @WeBuildTheWall built. He said I really know my stuff & our group needs to bid the whole wall project. Let’s do it:https://t.co/3mBoEyJpgE

— Amanda Shea (@TheAmandaShea) August 17, 2019

I hope @realDonaldTrump tweets about us again, record donations pouring in. Also thank you @colbertlateshow great plug! We’ll build more wall with your help!

— Brian Kolfage (@BrianKolfage) July 15, 2020

To all those libs who trashed and doubted our idea, look what’s happening now…Trump just gave us his blessing and we’re building the wall..PRIVATELY!https://t.co/ikwsKn4koP@KrisKobach1787 @SheriffClarke @SarahPalinUSA @PressSec @JenLawrence21 @BrianKolfage @DustinStockton

— Amanda Shea (@TheAmandaShea) January 25, 2019

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The Washington Examiner contributed to this report.