By Forum Staff
Former Congressman George Santos, who represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District, including borough neighborhoods Bay Terrace, Beechhurst, Bellerose, Flushing, Douglaston, Little Neck, Glen Oaks, Murray Hill, and Whitestone, was sentenced on Friday to 87 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of the sentence, Santos, 36, was ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $373,749.97 and $205,002.97 in forfeiture. Santos pleaded guilty in August 2024.
During the 2022 election cycle, Santos was a congressional candidate. Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2023 to related conduct, was the treasurer for his principal congressional campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress. During this election cycle, Santos and Marks devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for the campaign by submitting materially false reports to the Federal Election Commission, in which they inflated the campaign’s fundraising numbers for the purpose of misleading the FEC, a national party committee, and the public.
The purpose of the scheme was to ensure that Santos and his campaign qualified for a program administered by the national party committee to provide financial and logistical support to Santos’s campaign. To qualify for the program, Santos had to demonstrate, among other things, that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter. To create the public appearance that his campaign had met that financial benchmark and was otherwise financially viable, Santos and Marks agreed to falsely report to the FEC that at least 11 of their family members had made significant financial contributions to the campaign. In fact, Santos and Marks both knew that these individuals had neither made the reported contributions nor given authorization for their personal information to be included in such false public reports. In addition, Santos and Marks knew that the national party committee relied on FEC fundraising data to evaluate candidates’ qualification for the program, and agreed to falsely report to the FEC that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, when, in fact, Santos had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans. These falsely reported loans included one for $500,000 when in fact Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts.
Through the execution of this scheme, Santos and Marks ensured that Santos met the necessary financial benchmarks to qualify for the program administered by the national party committee. As a result of qualifying for the program, the congressional campaign received significant financial support. As part of his plea agreement, Santos also stipulated that he had engaged in a credit card fraud scheme, a fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme, and an unemployment insurance fraud scheme. Additionally, Santos admitted to providing false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Today, George Santos was finally held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated. For the defendant, it was judgment day, and for his many victims including campaign donors, political parties, government agencies, elected bodies, his own family members, and his constituents, it is justice,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney John Durham.
