The scandal-plagued congressman, who ran on a lifestyle tale suffering from lies, changed into charged in the aWide-ranging indictment with twine fraud, cash laundering, stealing public finances, and mendacity on federal disclosure forms. Santos is accused of the usage of illicit marketing campaign contributions for non-public expenses.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.— Representative George Santos, the Republican whose pivotal victory in New York became quickly accompanied via way of means of revelations that he had falsified his biography at the marketing campaign trail, has been charged via way of means of federal prosecutors in aWide-ranging indictment accusing him of twine fraud, cash laundering, stealing public budget and mendacity in federal disclosure forms.
Mr. Santos surrendered to the government at a federal courtroom docket on Long Island on Wednesday morning, and then the indictment become unsealed. He is predicted to seem earlier than a Justice of the Peace chosen on Wednesday afternoon. Federal prosecutors have targeted their case on accusations that Mr.Santos become concerned in 3 separate schemes. The bulk of the indictment makes a specialty of allegations that Mr.Santos directed an unnamed political representative to solicit fraudulent political contributions to an enterprise that he falsely claimed turned into a political fund. Prosecutors say that Mr. Santos used the cash for non-public expenses, which includes shopping for clothier garb and making credit score card payments. The indictment additionally accuses Mr.Santos of fraudulently claiming unemployment blessings made to be had throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Federal prosecutors say that Mr.Santos obtained extra than $24,000 in unemployment bills even as he became surely operating for Florida-primarily based totally funding organization that paid him $120,000 a year.
And prosecutors say that Mr. Santos knowingly made fake statements on economic disclosure paperwork in 2020 and 2022 in order to lie to the House of Representatives and the general public approximately his monetary condition. In the indictment, they accuse Mr.Santos of falsely inflating his earnings in 2020 and 2022, failing to reveal a few profits, and mendacity approximately the quantities in his checking and financial savings accounts. The choice via way of means of federal prosecutors to do so towards Mr.Santos marked a precipitous flip withinside the fortunes of a first-time period congressman WhoWent from a photo of Republican resurgence to a scandal-plagued political punching bag.
Mr.Santos has been besieged with the aid of using questions on his background, his private wealth, and his marketing campaign budget seeing that final December, whilst The New York TimesAnd different shops started out reporting on several lies approximately his biography, training and paintings records that he had advised electorate at the marketing campaign Subsequent reporting exposed questions on how Santos had treated the budget of an animal rescue charity he had claimed to operate earlier than walking for Congress and the way he had mingled his private commercial enterprise and political campaign. It additionally located several irregularities in how his marketing campaign spent and raised its funds.
The case of Mr.Santos is being prosecuted with the aid of using the workplace of the U.S. legal professional for the Eastern District of New York, which has been the main one of the inquiries into his economic and marketing campaign activities. Federal prosecutors charged Mr.Santos with seven counts of twine fraud, 3 counts of cash laundering, one matter of theft of public funds, and counts of creating materially fake statements to the House of Representatives. The indictment refers to 2 members who every gave $25,000 to an organization managed through Mr.Santos once they have been advised their cash might visit his campaign. The indictment did now no longer discover the contributors, however, humans with the expertise of the problem diagnosed them as Raymond Tantillo, a Long Island businessman who owns a community of automobile dealerships, and Andrew Intrater, a rich investor.
Robert C. Gottlieb, an attorney for Mr. Tantillo — who sold a $19 million yacht from any other donor in a deal brokered with the aid of using Mr.Santos — declined to comment.
Mr.Intrater’s lawyer, Richard D. Owens, issued a declaration announcing that from the outset, his patron had “aided the government’s research of George Santos and is diagnosed as a sufferer withinside the indictment as Contributor #2. ” He added: “Andy is gratified that Santos will now should a solution in the courtroom docket for the numerous lies that George instructed to Andy and such a lot of different Americans.”
If Mr. Santos is convicted of the charges, he may want to face up to twenty years in jail for the pinnacle counts, in step with the U.S. Attorney’s office, which labored with the F.B.I.And the Nassau County district attorney’s workplace to investigate.
Mr.Santos — who in latest weeks has courted media attention, along with making a look outdoors the Manhattan courthouse in which former President Donald J. Trump turned into being arraigned — has now no longer commented publicly at the costs towards him. A spokeswoman in Washington referred all inquiries to Mr.Santos’s lawyer, who did now no longer reply to requests for comment.
But for months, Mr.Santos has denied any crook wrongdoing, while he has admitted to mendacity approximately going to university and operating for prestigious Wall Street firms. When he seems earlier than Judge Anne Y. Shields on Wednesday, Mr.Santos will pay attention to the government’s case in opposition to him. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors will argue for the phrases of launch they agree with to be suitable to make sure that Mr. Santos returns to court. He might be launched on his personal recognizance, or required to pay economic bail. He will be required to show his passport. It isn’t clear whether or not Mr.Santos will resort to a plea or if he might be requested to accomplish that in the next hearing.
Mr.Santos is likewise presently dealing with research via way of means of the House Ethics Committee, which is calling at whether or not he didn’t properly fill out required monetary disclosure forms, violated federal battle of hobby legal guidelines, or engaged in different illegal hobbies for the duration of his campaign.
