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George Santos pleads guilty to electoral fraud and faces several years in prison

Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of election crimes, admitting he committed campaign finance fraud and stole credit card information during his 2022 run for Congress.

The two charges against Santos, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, carry a minimum of two years in prison. Santos is scheduled to be sentenced on February 7, according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Santos' agreement with U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, which a judge approved during Santos' court appearance in Long Island, will allow him to avoid a trial. The parties in the case had been preparing for a trial lasting several weeks that was set to begin in less than a month.

Peace filed 23 charges against Santos. Last October and again in May in another indictment, he alleged that Santos submitted false documents to the Federal Election Commission to support his campaign and stole credit card information from donors for his personal use. Santos used the donors' money to buy designer clothes and pay off credit card debt, Peace said.

A report released in November by the House Ethics Committee shed further light on Santos' spending habits, revealing that he used campaign funds to purchase Botox, OnlyFans subscriptions and items from Hermes and Sephora.

Peace accused Santos of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars to the FEC in 2021 and 2022 so that the then-candidate would be eligible for additional financial support from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Santos admitted in court to all the crimes he was accused of, Peace said outside the courtroom.

Former Rep. George Santos arrives in court in Central Islip, New York, on August 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

“[Santos] admitted he lied, stole, and defrauded people. Santos' countless lies and blatant misrepresentations catapulted him to Congress. But to the victims of Santos' various financial crimes and the community whose falsehoods and fabrications deprived them of honest representation in Congress, he is worthy of only shame,” Peace said.

The former congressman faces heavy fines and a lengthy prison sentence. Although the charges call for a minimum of two years in prison, he could spend several years in prison. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, his guilty plea also includes a $373,749 restitution payment and a $205,002 forfeiture payment.

Santos appeared emotional outside the courtroom, apologizing to his former constituents and saying he wanted to be “part of the restoration of the integrity that [he] has helped to reduce this.”

“I have disappointed you,” Santos said through tears.

Santos, 36, won a hard-fought race in an affluent Long Island district in the 2022 midterm elections. But weeks after his victory, reports surfaced that he ran on a resume that included exaggerations and lies. Reported falsehoods included that Santos falsely said he worked at Goldman Sachs; that he lied about attending an elite prep school called Horace Mann; that he claimed to raise money for a dog's surgery on GoFundMe and then ran off with the money; that he lied about being Jewish and that his grandparents fled Nazi Germany; and that he said he attended Baruch College on a volleyball scholarship, even though he never attended the school.

After the House Ethics Committee released its findings on Santos, the House voted overwhelmingly to expel him from Congress in December.

The attempt to kick out a colleague was extremely rare and led to Santos capitalizing on his fame by charging $200 for each individual video appearance on the app Cameo. His bio on the app read: “Former Congressional Icon!”

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Two former Santos associates, Nancy Marks and Sam Miele, also reached plea agreements with the Justice Department last year, and their confessions helped prosecutors build their case against Santos.

Marks, Santos' former treasurer, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the former congressman to commit wire fraud and identity theft, among other charges. Miele, who helped Santos raise funds, pleaded guilty to wire fraud.

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