Teflon Steve Bannon is Receiving Deep State Protection

Bannon can never be trusted. His reputation is beyond rehabilitation.

Last week, Chinese billionaire and phony anti-CCP crusader Guo Wengui, better known by his aliases Miles Guo or Miles Kwok, received a 30-year federal prison sentence in Manhattan. Prosecutors and the judge described a massive fraud that stole over $1 billion from thousands of investors and supporters, many of them Chinese immigrants drawn in by promises of fighting the Communist regime through media ventures, stock offerings, cryptocurrency, and exclusive clubs. Guo lived large on the proceeds—yachts, penthouses, supercars—while delivering nothing of value to victims.

Bannon was no peripheral figure in Guo’s criminal enterprise. He co-founded GTV Media Group with Guo, stood on stages promoting the fraudulent investments, maintained an office inside Guo’s operations, and received a $1 million consulting contract explicitly to leverage his “notoriety and fame” for Guo’s benefit. Even more damning, bankruptcy filings and court records trace roughly $57.6 million flowing from entities tied to Guo’s financial architect, William Je (also known as Kin Ming Je), into Bannon-linked operations: $35.5 to 56.6 million to GETTR USA Inc. (the social media platform chaired by Bannon), $270,000 directly to War Room Broadcasting, $250,000 to Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc., and another $500,000 to a central payment hub for his media empire. Multiple additional $500,000 checks from Saraca Media Group (an indicted entity central to hundreds of millions in fraud) landed with Bannon starting in 2018. Guo even provided a house in New Canaan, Connecticut, for Bannon’s girlfriend.

William Je, the indicted money launderer who remains a fugitive, moved funds through over 500 bank accounts, shell companies in the U.S., Bahamas, UAE, Cayman Islands, and elsewhere. Bannon had at least 132 documented contacts with Je, placing the majority of voice calls between them. Bannon continued promoting the schemes even after an FBI raid on Guo’s operations in 2019. Guo was convicted in 2024 on nine felony counts including racketeering, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Je faces similar charges but fled. As for Bannon, he was never charged in the Guo case and remains broadcasting daily on his podcast as if nothing happened.

Bannon was Guo’s partner, promoter, and financial beneficiary in one of the largest fraud operations targeting anti-Communist supporters in American history. This begs the question: Why does Teflon Steve walk free while his co-conspirator rots in prison for decades? The long pattern of Bannon skirting consequences makes his high-level connections abundantly clear.

‘We Build the Wall’: Bannon’s Template for Grifting Patriots

The ‘We Build the Wall’ grift followed the same playbook and overlapped in time with the Guo operation. Launched in late 2018, the campaign raised approximately $25 million from patriotic donors who were promised that 100 percent of funds would build border wall sections with zero salaries or personal enrichment for organizers. In reality, funds were diverted through shell companies and fake invoices for luxury spending—boats, cars, jewelry, home renovations. Bannon personally routed and benefited from over $1 million. Only a few miles of crummy, rust-encased “wall” were ever constructed.

Federal charges for wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy hit in August 2020. Bannon was dramatically arrested aboard Guo’s superyacht Lady May off Connecticut in a raid involving the Coast Guard. Co-defendants Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea faced serious consequences—prison sentences of years. Bannon received a presidential pardon from Trump on his last day in office in January 2021, wiping the federal case. In the remaining New York state case, he pleaded guilty in February 2025 to a single count of scheme to defraud (a low-level felony) and walked with a three-year conditional discharge—no prison time, only a ban on leading New York charities. Co-defendants went to prison, but Bannon emerged largely unscathed.

The minimal, performative consequences fit the script of an asset of the deep state. A brief (or token) brush with consequences builds “street cred” as a persecuted outsider so the subversion can persist and grow more malignant. Bannon emerged from the episode with his populist branding enhanced rather than destroyed. The contrast with his partners’ fates is stark and intentional.

Around the same period, Bannon provided key testimony in the federal trial against myself. Bannon told jurors that I was viewed as the Trump campaign’s “access point” to WikiLeaks and had boasted about connections to Julian Assange and upcoming damaging emails. I would be convicted on charges including lying to Congress and witness tampering based on Bannon’s false testimony. A year earlier, Bannon told the House Intelligence Committee that he never discussed WikiLeaks or its boss Julian Assange with me at any time. Despite offering two contradictory stories in sworn statements, no perjury charges ever went Bannon’s way.

Bannon, the supposed hardline loyalist, delivered damaging statements that aided the Mueller-era prosecution against me. This was not isolated. It occurred amid Bannon’s own legal pressures and fits a pattern of giving the deep state its “pound of flesh” against inconvenient figures while positioning himself as untouchable. Whether this cemented a working relationship between Bannon and the alphabet agencies waging open war against MAGA or was evidence of an existing relationship remains in question. What is not in question is Bannon’s nefarious connections and his path of wreckage that has carved fissures among conservatives throughout the Trump presidency.

The Epstein Files Expose an Unholy Alliance

The Epstein connection is even more radioactive and revealing. After his August 2017 ouster from the Trump White House—widely attributed to leaking and conniving—Bannon quickly entered a calculated partnership with notorious child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. From mid-2018 through Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the two cretins exchanged hundreds to thousands of texts and emails. Bannon coached Epstein on media rehabilitation in the wake of the Miami Herald’s damning “Perversion of Justice” series. Bannon conducted or oversaw more than 15 hours of filmed mock interviews and sessions at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, with anti-Trump author Michael Wolff present for some. Bannon advised Epstein on how to appear “engaging,” “friendly,” “sympathetic,” and “not at all creepy”—explicitly aiming to “humanize the monster,” push back on the “pedo/trafficking narrative,” and rebuild him as a philanthropist under the guise of creating a documentary to expose him.

Planning documents detail arrangements for a May 2019 trip to St. Thomas with Bannon slated to stay on Little St. James, Epstein’s notorious pedo island. Final texts on the day of Epstein’s arrest discussed filming on the island and in-person meetings. Epstein offered private jets, accommodations, and introductions. Photos from released files show Bannon at Epstein’s properties in social settings. A luxury Hermès Apple Watch was gifted to Bannon. Epstein called Bannon an “amazing assistant” and acted as a fixer for his European travels.

The Jan. 2026 release of files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act laid bare the extent of Bannon’s collaborative efforts. There were extensive communications, video footage of Bannon fawning over and casually questioning Epstein about his predator status (which Epstein downplayed to “tier one”), and plans to crush the narrative against him. Bannon has adamantly refused to release the full 15+ hours of footage he controls.

Publicly, Bannon positioned himself as a champion of Epstein file transparency and deep state exposure. Privately, the files show something darker. Texts reveal Bannon and Epstein mocking Trump. Bannon agreed with Epstein that Trump was “beyond borderline” unfit and the pair even entertained removing Trump with the 25th Amendment. Bannon met with anti-Trump author Michael Wolff and Epstein shortly after his White House firing. He cooperated with Mueller’s investigation and leaked damaging material. This was not the behavior of a loyal America First warrior. It was the behavior of a desperate, money-grubbing weasel hedging his bets and serving any master desperate enough to fund his booze-and-pill binges.

Why has Bannon taken no serious, lasting reputational hit from cozying up to a notorious pedophile and blackmail artist in his final days? Who is shielding Bannon? The same forces that benefit from his faux-populist War Room programming—content that exists to stoke confusion within the MAGA coalition, elevating distractions and steering energy away from the most important targets in the administrative state responsible for institutional capture. After all, a controlled opposition figure is far more insidious than an open opponent.

Bannon Keeps the Fraud Train Moving with Crypto Scams

The pattern repeats with the Let’s Go Brandon Coin ($FJB, later rebranded Patriot Pay). In December 2021, Bannon and Boris Epshteyn secretly acquired full ownership and control of the coin—including administrative keys that let them freeze investor assets and exempt their own massive holdings (2 billion coins) from fees. They promoted it aggressively on Bannon’s podcast and elsewhere as decentralized, uncancellable, and tied to veterans’ causes. The coin’s value briefly surged on the announcement then collapsed. Investors were locked out, funds allegedly were mishandled or went missing (millions unrecovered in marketing/charity wallets despite claims of big donations), and the project ultimately froze accounts and shut down. A federal class-action lawsuit filed in 2026 alleged fraud and misrepresentation. Yet again, no criminal charges have been levied against Bannon.

Investigations by Artvoice explicitly connect the dots across We Build the Wall, the Guo empire, and the crypto scheme: identical structure of political branding to lure donors/investors, shell companies and obscured flows to Bannon at the back end, partners and co-conspirators taking the fall while Bannon receives minimal or no consequences and continues operating. Bannon’s Wall Street background at Goldman Sachs gave him the experience to structure these layered transactions. He used his corporate crook training to repeatedly engineer financial schemes that kept ownership and flows hidden.

Bannon is the MAGA Judas Goat

Bannon’s ouster from the Trump administration in 2017 for leaking sensitive information proved to be instructive about his character. Instead of fading into oblivion like a man with an ounce of shame would have or doubling down on loyalty due to legitimate contrition, Bannon entered alliances with Epstein for image rehab of a predator and with Guo for promotion of billion-dollar frauds. He gave damaging testimony against me to add fuel to the deep state’s war on MAGA. Bannon privately mocked the president he claimed to serve while publicly cultivating the populist brand. He extracted millions from multiple schemes while his associates faced prison or fled. He pushes “transparency” on Epstein files he is personally compromised by. And through it all, he faces token or no real accountability.

This is not the profile of a genuine America First leader. This is the profile of a classic Judas goat—leading the flock toward the slaughterhouse while protected by the very interests he pretends to oppose. His podcast platform serves the purpose of controlled narrative management, fueling endless infighting, and creating a continuous distraction from the real centers of power. The deep state does not need to silence every critic; it needs reliable ones who can be trusted to stay within the establishment parameters and never target the right enemies too effectively.

Bannon can never be trusted. His reputation is beyond rehabilitation. The talents he brings to the table will always be used for treachery. As he continues masquerading as the beacon of populism, it must be shouted from the mountaintops without apology or hesitation that Bannon is a double agent unmatched in his mendacity. His consistent deep state protection is evidence of his utility to the opposition. Every new scheme, every new alliance exposed, every partner left holding the bag while he walks free, confirms it. The pattern is too perfect, the protection is too obvious, and the betrayal too repeated to ignore any longer. Putting America First demands for Bannon to be exposed loudly, relentlessly, and without apology until the cancer is fully removed.