Former U.S. Rep. George Santos sentenced to 87 months in Federal Prison
Caricature of George Santos. Photo by DonkeyHotey via Flickr
Former U.S. Representative George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft; the sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert and includes restitution payments of almost $374,000 and over $200,000 in forfeiture.
"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," prosecutors said during the trial.
Santos served as the U.S. representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District from Jan. 3 to Dec. 1, 2023, when he was expelled from Congress. Within weeks of his election, various news outlets reported that much of his reported biography and life had been completely made up.
The ex-representative left no stone unturned, fabricating his education, family lineage and work experience. Santos claimed he attended Baruch and NYU, but both schools denied any record of his enrollment. He stated he worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, but both companies said they never employed him. He even lied about being Jewish, with his ancestors being made-up Holocaust survivors.
Santos also ran multiple fraud schemes, lining his own pockets while exaggerating his campaign funds. Between July 2020 and October 2022, Santos took the personal identity and financial information of some of his campaign donors, using their credit cards to contribute to his campaign and his own personal bank account without authorization. To avoid immediate scrutiny, he reported to the Federal Election Commission that the donations were from relatives or close friends. Santos specifically targeted the elderly for this particular scheme.
During his successful campaign for Congress in September 2022, he enlisted a political consultant to falsely tell possible donors that their money would be used in television advertisements. Trusting these statements, two donors contributed $25,000 each—funds that went directly into Santos’ hands. He then used this money for personal reasons: purchasing designer clothes, paying off debts and paying his associates.
At the height of his second campaign for the House of Representatives in 2022, Santos was legally required to file a financial disclosure statement with the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was expected to provide an accurate and truthful accounting of his assets and income, among other figures.
His filed disclosure was inflated, claiming he earned $750,000 in salary from his company – his checking account had deposits between $100,001 and $250,000, and his savings account had deposits between $1 million and $5 million.
All of these crimes and accusations culminated in his expulsion from Congress. Following a federal indictment and an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, the House of Representatives voted 311–114 to remove Santos from Congress.
George Santos’ sentencing brings a close to a congressional career defined more by controversy than legislation; his brief tenure stresses concerns about transparency in American politics.