NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Bannon pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a fraud charge related to duping donors who gave money to a private effort to build a wall along the U.S. southern border — a case the conservative strategist has decried as a “political persecution.”

Trump ally Steve Bannon entered a guilty plea Tuesday for his role in a plot to defraud donors to a nonprofit devoted to building a wall on the U.S. southern border.

Bannon was indicted in 2022 over his alleged role in the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign. He had faced up to 15 years if convicted.