Former Republican congressman George Santos pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a federal fraud case marking yet another low point for a politician famed for the outlandish lies and fantasies he peddled during his short but high profile political career.
“I understand that my actions have betrayed my supporters and constituents,” Santos said in an emotional statement during the hearing. “I am committed to making amends and learning from this experience.”
The disgraced ex-congressman faces a two-year mandatory minimum sentence under federal guidelines, but in court US district judge Joanna Seybert estimated a possible sentencing range between six and eight years when he returns to court again on 7 February.
Santos, 36, had previously pleaded not guilty to a range of alleged financial crimes, including lying to Congress about his wealth, collecting unemployment benefits while actually working and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses.
The New York Republican entered the plea in a courtroom in Long Island just weeks before his trial was set to begin in early September. The prospect of a plea deal was raised late last week when a surprise court hearing was requested by prosecutors and Santos’s lawyers. Prior to the deal, two Santos campaign aides had already pleaded guilty to related crimes.
Santos was once touted as a rising political star after he flipped the suburban Long Island district in New York state. But his story rapidly unspooled in the glare of public life as reports emerged he had lied about having a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree along with other questions of his biography.
Even in the Republican party of Donald Trump, where scandals over truth-telling have become an almost daily event, Santos managed to draw enormously negative attention. Members of his own party turned upon him, demanding he resign.
New scandals then emerged about his campaign funds.
Santos was first indicted on federal charges in May 2023, but refused to resign from office. Santos was expelled from Congress after an ethics investigation found “overwhelming evidence” that he had broken the law and exploited his public position for his profit.
Following the plea proceeding, US attorney Breon Peace said that after years of telling lies, Santos “had finally told the truth – and that truth is that he is a criminal”.
“As a result he’ll finally be held to account for his actions, he’ll go to prison for at least two years, be required to forfeit the money he made illegally and required to repay the victims he swindled,” Peace said.
Peace added that the government recognized that it was a “sad day when an elected official admits to criminal activity”. The residents of Santos’s congressional district, he added, had elected to him “to represent them honorably and honestly”.
“Instead they were badly deceived and came to learn they were victims of a fraud of unprecedented proportion and they had to watch helplessly as Santos rode into Congress on a campaign of lies,” he said.
Separately on Monday, in Manhattan federal court, the judge Denise Cote tossed out a lawsuit in which Santos claimed that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, ABC and Disney committed copyright infringement and unjustly enriched themselves at his expense by using videos he made on the Cameo app for a Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment.
The judge said it was clear that Kimmel used the clips, which were also posted to YouTube, for the purposes of criticism and commentary, which is fair use.
Santos had begun selling personalized videos on Cameo in December shortly after his ouster from Congress. He subsequently launched, then quickly abandoned, a long shot bid to return to Congress as an independent earlier this year.
Prosecutors had been seeking to admit as evidence some of the financial falsehoods Santos told during his campaign, including that he’d worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and that he had operated a family-run firm with approximately $80m in assets.
The two Santos campaign aides that had already pleaded guilty to crimes related to the former congressman’s campaign were his ex-treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty in October to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated Santos in an alleged scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports.
Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, pleaded guilty a month later to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising money for Santos’s campaign.
He subsequently launched a long-shot bid to return to Congress as an independent earlier this year. After that failed, he said he was pleased to be a “somewhat private civilian” again.
“I really don’t miss the rubber chicken dinners and the rah-rah-rah parties and fundraisers,” he said of his short-lived political career as a elected politician.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
