In 2019, Brian Kolfage, an Air Force veteran injured in Iraq, formed a nonprofit group to construct the border barrier that then-President Donald J. Trump had promised. It was called simply We Build the Wall.

Mr. Kolfage had three co-founders: a Colorado entrepreneur named Timothy Shea; a Florida financier, Andrew Badolato; and Stephen K. Bannon, who had served as an adviser to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Badolato and Mr. Bannon took significant control of day-to-day operations, according to federal prosecutors. Mr. Kolfage, who lost both legs and part of his right arm in Iraq, was the group’s public face, pledging that all money raised would go toward a wall between the United States and Mexico and that he would “not take a penny of compensation.”

In 2020, however, prosecutors accused Mr. Badolato, Mr. Bannon, Mr. Kolfage and Mr. Shea of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some going to personal expenses, like boat payments.

Mr. Badolato and Mr. Kolfage pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in 2022, with Mr. Kolfage also admitting tax crimes. Last fall, Mr. Shea was convicted of wire fraud conspiracy, falsifying records and conspiring to launder money. Mr. Bannon was spared a trial after being pardoned by Mr. Trump.

On Wednesday, Judge Analisa Torres of Federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced Mr. Badolato to three years in prison and Mr. Kolfage to four years and three months, saying their crimes had a “chilling effect on civic participation” in politics.

Before being sentenced, Mr. Kolfage said in court that he was “disgusted, humiliated” by his crimes, adding: “I’m deeply sorry for my actions.”

Mr. Badolato told Judge Torres: “I beg this court’s forgiveness. I place myself at your mercy.”

In many ways, We Build the Wall, which raised more than $25 million, became an enduring emblem of the Trump era. It sprang from Mr. Trump’s vision of a “beautiful wall” that some saw as a physical embodiment of his “America First” stance and others regarded as a symbol of fear-mongering and racism.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, supported We Build the Wall, which bragged on social media of ties to the president. Trump allies, including Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater, now known as Academi, joined the group’s advisory board. And Mr. Trump’s intervention in the final hours of his presidency protected Mr. Bannon from federal charges, though state prosecutors indicted him on similar charges last year.

Evidence from Mr. Shea’s trial could be used by the Manhattan district attorney’s office against Mr. Bannon. Mr. Badolato’s lawyer said his client was prepared to testify in Mr. Bannon’s trial. One of Mr. Kolfage’s lawyers said his client had testified before a grand jury in Manhattan before Mr. Bannon was indicted.

In letters to the court, lawyers for Mr. Badolato and Mr. Kolfage asked for lenience. Mr. Badolato’s lawyer said his client had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage and asked that he be sentenced to probation or home confinement.

Mr. Kolfage’s lawyers described him as merely a “symbolic leader” of the group. They cited his military service and injuries and asked he be sentenced to “home incarceration.”

Prosecutors said both defendants deserved prison for deceiving donors. “As far as the public knows, no one is getting paid,” Mr. Kolfage told Mr. Badolato at one point, adding: “Salaries will never be disclosed.”

Prosecutors wrote that Mr. Kolfage — who they said spent money on a luxury S.U.V., a golf cart and home renovations — had “demonstrated no remorse or regret.” He had falsely claimed, prosecutors added, that he was being punished for supporting Mr. Trump.

“He used his carefully crafted public facade to steal from hundreds of thousands of individual donors who trusted him,” the prosecutors wrote. “He then viciously and publicly attacked members of the press and public who questioned his trustworthiness or integrity.”

Mr. Kolfage had promised often that all donations would go toward a border barrier. Behind the scenes, prosecutors said, Mr. Badolato and Mr. Bannon agreed to give him an initial payment of $100,000, followed by $20,000 per month.

According to prosecutors, more than $1 million was funneled from We Build the Wall to a nonprofit group formed by Mr. Bannon called Citizens of the American Republic, or COAR. That group then channeled money to Mr. Bannon and Mr. Kolfage, prosecutors added.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars from We Build the Wall went to a company created by Mr. Shea called Ranch Property Marketing and Management, according to evidence. Some, in turn, went to Mr. Kolfage and to Mr. Shea and his wife, Amanda.

Other funds, according to prosecutors, went to a company connected to Mr. Badolato called White Knights & Vultures.

Prosecutors cited several text messages between We Build the Wall partners. One showed Mr. Shea marveling as donations poured in. Mr. Kolfage wrote: “We gotta start making more money.”

The messages also showed Mr. Badolato describing to Mr. Bannon a news release in which Mr. Kolfage says “not a penny will go to him,” but that a private donor would “compensate him directly as milestones are reached.”

Mr. Bannon replied 11 minutes later, saying: “COAR can pay him.”

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