George Santos prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for campaign fraud

The Guardian

05-04-2025

Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former congressman George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges.
The US attorney for the eastern district of New York argued in a court filing on Friday that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican's 'unparalleled crimes' had 'made a mockery' of the country's election system.
'He lied to his campaign staff, his supporters, his putative employer and congressional colleagues, and the American public,' the office wrote. 'From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos's unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives.'
The office also argued that Santos had been 'unrepentant and defiant' for years, dismissing the prosecution as a 'witch-hunt' and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked.
Even after pleading guilty before trial, prosecutors said his claims of remorse 'ring hollow', noting that he has not forfeited any of his ill-gotten gains or repaid any of his victims.
'The volume of Santos's lies and his extraordinary pattern of dishonesty speaks to his high likelihood of reoffending and the concomitant need to remove him from the community he has repeatedly victimized,' prosecutors wrote.
The 87-month sentence proposed by prosecutors represents the high end of court guidelines in such cases. That would be roughly four to five years behind bars plus a mandatory minimum two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft, they said.
Santos' lawyers did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday, which was the deadline for both sides to submit their sentencing memos to court.
A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to hear arguments and decide on Santos' sentence during a court hearing on 25 April.
The once-rising Republican, who represented parts of Queens and Long Island, served barely a year in office before he was ousted by his House colleagues in 2023 – just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber's history.
Santos' political demise came after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign.
The now-36-year-old cast himself as a wealthy businessman who had graduated from top colleges, worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio. In truth, he was struggling financially and faced eviction.
Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his congressional campaign.
He was initially due to be sentenced in February, but a judge granted him a three-month reprieve to come up with more than half a million dollars in court fines.
As part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture.
Santos's lawyers said at the time that he had little more than $1,000 in liquid assets and needed more time to build his newly launched podcast Pants on Fire in order to begin paying off the debt.
Prosecutors maintain Santos profited handsomely from his infamy, arguing he has earned more than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing website Cameo and from a new documentary since his expulsion from Congress.
Two of Santos's campaign staffers have also pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to the campaign financing scheme.
Sam Miele, his former campaign fundraiser, was sentenced in March to one year and one day in federal prison. He admitted to impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide and charging donors' credit cards without authorization while raising campaign cash for Santos.
Nancy Marks, Santos's former campaign treasurer, admitted she submitted to federal regulators bogus campaign finance reports filled with fake donors and even a fake $500,000 personal loan from Santos himself.
The embellishments helped Santos hit campaign fundraising thresholds needed to qualify for financial backing from the national Republican party.
Marks is due to be sentenced in May.