Former congressman George Santos was sentenced to greater than seven years in federal jail and two years of supervised launch on Friday.
Santos, 36, had pleaded responsible to wire fraud and aggravated identification theft final yr.
The prosecution was granted the 87 months that that they had requested.
Intelligencer reports:
In 2023, federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment towards Santos, alleging the consultant defrauded marketing campaign donors by directing their contributions to his private accounts and utilizing the funds to buy designer garments and pay payments. Additionally they alleged that he fraudulently utilized for pandemic unemployment advantages regardless of being employed. A subsequent superseding indictment alleged Santos conspired to inflate his marketing campaign’s monetary data to qualify for help from the nationwide celebration in addition to stole the identities and monetary data of his donors to contribute of their names unknowingly. The 23 whole counts towards Santos ranged from wire fraud, cash laundering, aggravated identification theft to creating false statements to the Federal Election Fee.
Santos was initially defiant, rebuffing requires his resignation and vowing to run for reelection. However the beleaguered consultant quickly made historical past in 2023 by turning into solely the sixth member of the Home to be expelled from the political physique following a damning ethics report that discovered “substantial proof” of his rule breaking.
The Division of Justice requested for an elevated sentence as a result of his social media posts criticizing the federal authorities.
Hello my title is George Santos and the DOJ has had a tough on for me since December of 2022.
I refuse to allow them to break me or my spirit and that makes them huge Mad… they’ve used elaborate language to tug me and hinder my potential to earn revenue…
Lengthy story quick, I’ll NOT…
— Pants On Fireplace with George Santos (@MrSantosNY) April 5, 2025
In a letter to the choose final week, Santos expressed regret for his actions however referred to as out the prosecution for in search of such a harsh penalty.
“Each dawn since that plea has carried the identical realization: I did this, me. I’m accountable,” Santos wrote in a letter to U.S. District Choose Joanna Seybert, based on a report from the Related Press. “However saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit down quietly whereas these prosecutors attempt to drop an anvil on my head.”
“Contesting the severity of a proposed sentence isn’t the identical as contesting guilt, and punishing protected speech as a result of it questions punishment ought to hassle anybody who values honest prosecution over private vindication,” he wrote.
Santos was elected in 2022 and ousted the next yr.
Earlier than being kicked out of workplace, Santos obtained a 100% score from Heritage Motion for America for his full alignment with the group’s conservative coverage positions.
Santos has not publicly acknowledged if he’ll search a pardon from President Donald Trump
