Former US Representative George Santos was sentenced on Friday to more than seven years in federal prison. This ends years of controversial proceedings that saw Santos plead guilty to fraud and identity theft.
A Republican from New York, Santos was elected to Congress in 2022. A small Long Island newspaper first raised concerns about Santos during the 2022 election cycle, calling into question his financial disclosures along with his education and work history. These concerns quickly gained traction, and the allegations against Santos became a national story. Santos narrowly survived an initial expulsion vote in November 2023. Following the release of a scathing report from the House Ethics Committee, Santos was officially expelled from Congress in December 2023. The Constitution allows Congress to expel a member with a two-thirds vote. This is a very rare process and Santos is only the fourth member to be expelled from Congress outside of a spate of removals during the Civil War.
In October 2023 Santos was charged with 23 federal counts of fraud, conspiracy, identity theft, and making false statements. Prosecutors alleged that Santos stole from his donors, used campaign funds for personal expenses, submitted false campaign finance disclosures, and fraudulently collected personal unemployment benefits. IRS Special Agent in Charge Tom Fattorusso summarized the charges: “George Santos lied to his constituents, cheated his supporters and quite simply made a mockery of his position in public office.” Santos pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft this past August.
District Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced Santos to 87 months in prison on Friday and ordered him to pay over $570,000 in restitution. Reacting to the sentence, FBI assistant director in charge Christopher Raia stated:
Today, former United States Congressman George Santos is held accountable for his repeated criminal dishonesty – financing his election campaign with ill-obtained funds, stealing COVID unemployment benefits, and providing materially false information in his financial disclosure. Santos abused his authority to garner illicit donations and campaign support; ultimately betraying the public’s trust and violating our democratic systems. May today’s sentencing emphasize the FBI’s continued commitment to dismantling any fraudulent scheme designed to unlawfully benefit those in positions of power.
Santos wrote a letter to Seybert in the days before his sentencing. Asking for leniency, Santos wrote, “I did this, me. I am responsible… But saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head.” The judge was not sympathetic, calling Santos “an arrogant fraudster talking out of both sides of his mouth.”
