George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 charges, including wire fraud and theft
George Santos, the New York Republican congressman who rose to prominence for a string of exaggerations, lies, and irregularities related to his personal background and campaign finances, has pleaded not guilty after being hit with a series of federal charges.
He told the press after exiting a Long Island courthouse on Wednesday that the probe amounted to a “witch hunt” and that he is planning to run for re-election.
Mr Santos surrendered to the authorities and was taken into custody earlier in the day before being released on a $500,000 bond ahead of his next court appearance on 30 June.
He has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
In the 13-count indictment, unsealed on Wednesday morning, federal prosecutors accused Mr Santos of lying on financial disclosure forms he filed to the House when he became a candidate, first by overstating his income from one job and failing to disclose income from another, and second by lying about his earnings from his company, the Devolder Organization.
Prosecutors also allege that Mr Santos fraudulently used donations to his political campaign for his own benefit, spending “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”
The indictment alleges that Mr Santos’ fraud began before his successful run for Congress, accusing him of running an unemployment insurance fraud scheme in which he applied for government assistance in New York while still employed by a Florida-based investment firm.
“Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself,” Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney led the calls for him to go, saying: “He has demonstrated by his untruthfulness that he should not be in the United States Congress – perhaps should not even be on the public streets.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has now said he will not back Mr Santos’s proposed re-election bid.
