Central Islip, New York: Former US Representative George Santos pleaded guilty on Monday (US time) to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with the federal fraud case that led to his expulsion from Congress. The New York Republican entered the plea in a courtroom in Long Island just weeks before his trial was set to begin in early September. Former US Representative George Santos arrives at court in Central Islip, NY.
Credit: AP Santos was indicted on felony charges that he stole from political donors, used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses, lied to Congress about his wealth and collected unemployment benefits while actually working. Santos was expelled from the US House after an ethics investigation found “overwhelming evidence” that he had broken the law and exploited his public position for his own profit. “I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused and accept full responsibility for my actions,” Santos said in court, his voice shaking as he read from a prepared statement.
Santos is set to be sentenced on February 7. He could face as much as 22 years in prison, and waived his right to appeal any sentence less than 95 months - just under eight years - as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. George Santos leaves the Capitol after being expelled from the House of Representatives in 2023.
Credit: AP Santos was hit with federal charges in May 2023 for laundering campaign funds to pay for his personal expenses, charging donors’ credit cards without their consent, and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed. He has been free on $500,000 bond since his arrest. Santos had initially pleaded not guilty.
He had been in plea talks with prosecutors since last December. His indictment prompted lawmakers to expel him from the House of Representatives in December. “To hell with this place,” he said shortly afterward.
Santos spent much of his 11 months in office engulfed in scandal, marginalised by his fellow lawmakers and mocked by late-night TV comedians following revelations that he had lied about much of his past. During his campaign, Santos claimed that he attended New York University, that he had worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and that his grandparents had fled the Nazis during World War II. None of those claims were true.
A bipartisan investigation by the House Ethics Committee found he spent campaign money on Botox, luxury brands such as Hermes, and OnlyFans, an online platform known for sexual content. Santos’ seat, which represents a small slice of New York City and some of its eastern suburbs, was filled in a special election in February by Democrat Tom Suozzi. Case dismissed: Host Jimmy Kimmel.
Credit: AP Separately on Monday, in Manhattan federal court, Judge Denise Cote tossed out a lawsuit in which Santos claimed that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, ABC and Disney committed copyright infringement and unjustly enriched themselves at his expense by using videos he made on the Cameo app for a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment. Cameo allows users to pay celebrities (and near-celebrities) to make personalised videos with greetings and messages. The judge said it was clear that Kimmel used the clips, which were also posted to YouTube, for the purposes of criticism and commentary, which is fair use.
Santos had begun selling personalised videos on Cameo in December shortly after his ouster from Congress. He subsequently launched, then quickly abandoned, a longshot bid to return to Congress as an independent earlier this year. In a radio interview that aired Sunday, Santos said he has taken comfort in being a “somewhat private civilian” again.
“I really don’t miss the rubber chicken dinners and the rah-rah-rah parties and fundraisers,” he said of his former life. With his criminal trial looming, he said in the WABC interview that he was “terrified.” “This is not absolutely an easy process to go through.
It really hurts and it really messes with your psychological health,” he told host Cindy Adams. As the trial date neared in recent weeks, Santos had sought to have a partially anonymous jury, with his lawyers arguing in court papers that “the mere risk of public ridicule could influence the individual jurors ability to decide Santos’ case solely on the facts and law as presented in Court.” He also wanted potential jurors to fill out a written questionnaire gauging their opinions of him.
His lawyers argued the survey was needed because “for all intents and purposes, Santos has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion.” Judge Joanna Seybert agreed to keep jurors’ identities public but said no to the questionnaire. Prosecutors, meanwhile, had been seeking to admit as evidence some of the financial falsehoods Santos told during his campaign, including that he’d worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and that he had operated a family-run firm with approximately $80 million in assets, Two Santos campaign aides previously pleaded guilty to crimes related to the former congressman’s campaign.
His ex-treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty in October to a fraud conspiracy charge, implicating Santos in an alleged scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors. A lawyer for Marks said at the time his client would be willing to testify against Santos if asked. Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, pleaded guilty a month later to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising money for Santos’ campaign.
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