Conservative firebrand Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to defrauding donors in a fundraising effort to build a wall along the southern US border in a deal that allowed him to avoid prison.

Steve Bannon pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall on the U.S. southern border, ending a case the conservative strategist decried as a “political persecution.

Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon entered guilty pleas to five counts connected with defrauding the public in an online fundraiser to avoid jail time in a plea deal on Tuesday.