Disgraced former Rep. George Santos pleads guilty to federal charges

By Mark Morales, Jack Forrest and Devan Cole, CNN

Central Islip, New York (CNN) — Former Republican Rep. George Santos pleaded guilty on Monday to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud charges stemming from fraudulent activity during his 2022 midterm campaign.

The guilty plea comes just weeks before the ex-congressman was set to stand trial on nearly two dozen federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports, all of which he had to admit to in an allocution statement Monday.

Santos will serve a minimum of two years in prison as part of the stipulated agreement and pay restitution of $373,000. His sentencing hearing is set for February 2025.

“I deeply regret my conduct,” Santos said in court Monday. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, the former congressman said he had “allowed ambition to cloud my judgment.”

“Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I’d take, but it’s the right thing to do,” Santos said. “It is my own recognition of the lies I told myself.”

Prosecutors said they were prepared to show during trial over 500 exhibits of evidence, including cell phone evidence, information downloaded from Santos’ iCloud account and financial records.

The plea to charges of committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft marks an end to the nearly two-year saga that saw Santos lie about his resume as he sought election to New York’s 3rd Congressional District. He won the seat but was ultimately charged with 23 federal counts and was dramatically expelled from Congress last year.

Prosecutors, in two batches of charges last year, alleged Santos committed fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misused campaign funds and lied about his personal finances on House disclosure reports.

Santos pleaded not guilty in May 2023 to 13 federal charges, including 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 US House of Representatives.

And in October, he pleaded not guilty to another 10 federal charges, which included allegations that he stole donors’ identities and ran up thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges on their credit cards, embezzled cash from his company, and conspired with his former campaign treasurer to falsify donation totals to hit fundraising targets, among other offenses.

Santos, 36, insisted after the second wave of charges that he would not accept a plea deal and that he would seek reelection for his seat, telling reporters in October, “The No. 1 question you all ask me is, ‘Are you going to take a plea deal?’ No. The answer is, I will not take a plea deal.”

Santos’ campaign fundraiser, Sam Miele, pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge as part of a plea deal in November. His former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to defraud the United States by committing one or more federal offenses.

Expelled by House in rare move

Santos, who represented parts of Long Island and Queens during his brief tenure in Congress, sparked shock and controversy on Capitol Hill over revelations that he fabricated large parts of his life story, including significant elements of his resume and biography.

Against the threat of expulsion from Congress, Santos remained defiant. He argued that he was being bullied and that it would set a dangerous precedent if the House expelled him since he had not been convicted in a court of law.

But calls for Santos’ expulsion from the chamber grew to a fever pitch after the House Ethics Committee released a major report that uncovered additional “uncharged and unlawful conduct” by Santos beyond the criminal allegations already pending against him.

In a resounding 311-114 vote in December, with 105 Republicans voting with the overwhelming majority of Democrats in favor of his expulsion, the House used its most severe form of punishment for a member and expelled Santos. He became only the sixth lawmaker ever to be thrown from the chamber.

Santos briefly attempted a congressional comeback, announcing in March that he would leave the Republican Party to run as an independent in New York’s 1st District. But he dropped his bid in April, saying at the time that he didn’t want to split the ticket with incumbent GOP Rep. Nick LaLota and “be responsible for handing the House to Dems.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Clare Foran, Manu Raju, Sam Fossum and Haley Talbot contributed to this report.

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