Former US congressman George Santos gets over 7 years’ jail for stealing campaign funds
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The former lawmaker, who wiped away tears as he was sentenced, was in Congress for less than a year.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK – Former US Representative George Santos, a one-time rising Republican star who falsely claimed to have worked for Goldman Sachs before running for Congress, was ordered to serve seven years and three months in prison for stealing campaign funds.
Santos, 36, was sentenced on April 25 in Central Islip, New York, by US District Judge Joanna Seybert, who called his crimes “flagrant thievery”.
The 87-month prison term matched a recommendation by federal prosecutors. A lawyer for Santos asked for two years. The judge told Santos to surrender to federal custody by July 25.
The former lawmaker, who wiped away tears as he was sentenced, was in Congress for less than a year. He was expelled after a US House ethics probe substantiated allegations of theft and deceit. Prosecutors initially charged Santos with 23 counts of wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds. He pleaded guilty in August to two counts of wire fraud and identity theft just weeks before his trial.
As part of his plea agreement, Santos confessed to taking part in a wide range of conduct, including filing bogus reports with the Federal Election Commission, embezzling campaign funds, charging credit cards without authorisation and fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits.
Prosecutor Ryan Harris said the government investigation concluded Santos had engaged in five separate frauds at the same time, and that some of the victims he stole money from were handicapped or elderly.
‘Fraudster’
“He rose to one of the highest offices in the land on a wave of lies,” Mr Harris told the judge. “His campaign for Congress didn’t turn him into a fraudster. It simply revealed him for what he already was.”
The prosecutor also said Santos remained unrepentant and had refused to take responsibility for his crimes in comments he had posted on social media.
“Where is your remorse?” Judge Seybert told the former lawmaker at the hearing on April 25. “Mr Santos, words have consequences. You got elected by your words, which were lies. Truth be damned.”
Santos’ lawyers sought a mandatory minimum term of 24 months, arguing that his crimes were non-violent. They also asked that he be placed in a federal prison in the north-east US, where he could get mental health treatment.
Before he was sentenced, Santos asked the judge for mercy.
“I offer my deepest apologies,” he said. “I ask the court to let me prove that I can still contribute positively to the community I have wronged.”
In his own three-page letter to the judge, Santos argued that others had received lesser prison terms for their crimes, including former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison for campaign fraud. Santos also argued that prosecutors unfairly sought to limit his free speech on social media.
‘Anvil on my head’
“Saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head,” Santos wrote in an April 19 letter.
“If I were the criminal mastermind they portray, I would be the clumsiest in modern memory: leaving a trail of screen shots pointing directly back to myself.”
At the time he pleaded guilty, the former congressman, who lied about working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, also agreed to pay restitution of almost US$374,000 (S$490,000) and is subject to a forfeiture order of more than US$205,000.
But prosecutors said Santos has failed to make any payments by a court-ordered deadline, even though he has earned in excess of US$400,000 selling personalised videos on Cameo. On April 25, the judge ordered Santos to pay more than US$373,000 in restitution to his victims “due immediately”.
Santos’ brief political career began to unwind following revelations that he had lied about his resume and much of his life story when making his pitch to voters in New York’s 3rd congressional district, a string of bedroom communities in Queens and Nassau County on Long Island that is among the wealthiest districts in the US.
In a 2023 indictment, prosecutors said he solicited contributions to a shell company that operated as an illegal super-PAC (political action committee), and stole the personal and financial information of contributors to his campaign.
He also claimed unemployment benefits he was not entitled to and failed to properly disclose sources of income. BLOOMBERG
