Former U.S. Rep. George Santos faced a setback on Friday as he was denied a request to dismiss part of the criminal case against him by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert. Santos, a New York Republican, is set to stand trial on a total of 23 charges, including defrauding campaign donors.
The judge rejected Santos' plea to dismiss charges of aggravated identity theft and theft of public money, which constitute three of the charges brought against him. Both prosecutors and Santos' legal team declined to provide comments on the matter.
Prosecutors have leveled a series of accusations against Santos, alleging offenses such as providing false information to Congress regarding his financial status, unlawfully collecting unemployment benefits while employed, and misusing campaign funds for personal expenses like luxury clothing. Santos entered a plea of not guilty to an amended indictment in October.
The aggravated identity theft charges stem from claims that Santos utilized credit card details of campaign donors to make unauthorized contributions, concealing the true origin of the funds by attributing the donations to his relatives and associates without their consent.
In response, Santos' defense contended that the aggravated identity theft charges were unfounded, arguing that the actions amounted to overcharging credit card accounts that were willingly shared with him. Prosecutors countered this assertion, asserting that Santos deliberately abused the credit card information with the intent to defraud and inflate his campaign finances.
Regarding the theft of public funds charge, it is linked to allegations of unemployment fraud. Santos' legal team argued that this charge improperly combined multiple criminal activities and transactions, a practice that has been deemed impermissible in previous court cases.
Prosecutors maintained that the theft of public funds charge against Santos represents a single ongoing scheme. The trial for the former Congressman is scheduled to commence in September in Central Islip, Long Island.
In a separate development, Santos abandoned his unlikely bid to run for Congress as an independent candidate in New York's 1st Congressional District on Long Island in April.
