George Santos begins 7-year fraud sentence at federal prison in New Jersey

Yahoo

2 days ago

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) reported to prison Friday afternoon, officially capping off the New York Republican's dramatic rise-and-fall in politics that saw him ascend as a GOP trailblazer before plunging to disgrace.
Santos, 37, surrendered to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Fairton in New Jersey, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The news marks just the beginning of a 87-month prison sentence — more than seven years — which he received after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a plea deal last summer.
He faced 23 federal counts for a number of criminal schemes, including money laundering, theft of public funds, making materially false statements to the House of Representatives and Federal Election Commission (FEC) and falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC.
The beginning of Santos's prison sentence marks the end — for now — of a story that captivated Washington for months, which began in 2022 with praise for the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a nonincumbent, gained notoriety when news broke that much of his biography and resume was fabricated, grew larger after two criminal indictments and hit an apex when he was expelled from the House, becoming just the sixth lawmaker to ever be ousted from the lower chamber.
Santos recognized his drama-filled tenure in Congress in a social media post published the day before he reported to prison.
'Well, darlings… The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed. From the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it's been!' Santos wrote Thursday on the social platform X. 'Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried… most days.'
He added, 'To my supporters: You made this wild political cabaret worth it. To my critics: Thanks for the free press. I may be leaving the stage (for now), but trust me legends never truly exit.'
In the lead-up to his report date, Santos made his interest in a pardon clear, filing the necessary paperwork and going as far as to tell Piers Morgan during an interview on his YouTube show in May: 'I'll take a commutation, clemency, whatever the president is willing to give me.'
'Seven years and three months in prison for a first-time offender over campaign matters just screams 'over the top,' and I would appreciate if the president would consider,' the former New York lawmaker added.
In the days before arriving at prison, however, he recognized his efforts would likely be futile. The BOP does not disclose the locations at which inmates are set to report ahead of their surrenders.
The judge overseeing his case requested he be housed in a facility 'within the North-East region of the United States.'
Santos's former campaign treasurer pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges last year for her role in fabricating the ex-lawmaker's campaign finance reports. She was sentenced in May to three years of probation, avoiding prison time, unlike her former boss.
The Santos saga began in December 2022 when — after being lauded for flipping a Long Island battleground district red — The New York Times published a bombshell report that he misrepresented his family history, previous employment and education.
The scandal snowballed from there.
Santos arrived in Washington shrouded in controversy, prompting him to quickly step down from his two committee assignments within a month of beginning his tenure in Congress. The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into the embattled lawmaker in March, and his first 13 charges came in May, followed by another 10 in October.
Throughout that timeline, Santos faced three efforts to remove him from Congress, including failed tries in May and November. In December, however, an attempt led by other New York Republicans — worried the chaos of Santos would negatively impact their reelection endeavors — was successful, with lawmakers overcoming the inflated two-thirds threshold for passage.
The vote was 311-114-2, with 105 Republicans joining nearly all Democrats to eject Santos from the chamber after roughly 11 months on the job, leaving the GOP conference one vote down in its razor-thin majority.
The impetus was a damning report from the committee, which determined Santos 'violated federal criminal laws,' finding he improperly used campaign funds — including on luxury goods and Botox — and reported fictitious personal loans to his campaign and another political action committee.
'To hell with this place,' Santos declared on his way out of the Capitol following the vote.
Updated at 2:52 p.m. EDT.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.