George Santos pleads guilty to several crimes

Former Member of Parliament George Santos (R-NY) will plead guilty to several counts and avoid a federal trial that was scheduled to begin next month.

Accordingly The New York TimesThe former congressman will take a plea deal to avoid trial on 23 charges. If convicted, Santos could face a lengthy prison sentence, which he may be able to shorten through a plea deal.

However, two lawyers representing witnesses in the trial were informed earlier this week that Santos intends to plead guilty on Monday. Santos is expected to make a statement in a New York court admitting his guilt to the charges, but the exact nature of his guilty plea and sentence is unknown.

The deal must be approved by the US District Judge Joanna SeybertThe judge has already scheduled a personal hearing for this Monday and postponed some deadlines in the case.

The disgraced Republican is accused of engaging in a range of criminal activities, including unauthorized use of credit cards for campaigning, inflating campaign finance reports, fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits, lying in financial disclosures and deceiving campaign donors.

Santos was indicted on 13 counts last May before 10 more counts were added in October. Jury selection for the trial was scheduled to begin on September 9.

The reported deal comes after two of Santos' associates admitted guilt last year. According to the NYT:

Santos, 36, was first charged with 13 counts in May 2023 after federal prosecutors investigated a series of financial crimes he was accused of. Ten more counts followed in October.

Santos initially pleaded not guilty to all charges and called the prosecution a “witch hunt” in an apparent attempt to implicate former President Donald J. Trump. His decision to change course apparently comes months after two-thirds of his colleagues in the House voted to expel him in December – making him only the sixth House member to be expelled in the body's history.

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