CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to over seven years in jail, sobbing as he discovered his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress.
Santos, who pleaded guilty final summer season to federal wire fraud and aggravated id theft, appealed for mercy. In a federal court docket a brief drive from his previous congressional district, he stated via tears that he was “humbled” and “chastised” and realized he had betrayed his constituents’ belief.
“I supply my deepest apologies,” he stated, including: “I can not rewrite the previous, however I can management the street forward.”
U.S. District Court docket Choose Joanna Seybert evidently wasn’t satisfied.
“The place is your regret? The place do I see it?” she requested as she sentenced him to 87 months behind bars. “It’s at all times another person’s fault.”
The New York Republican served in Congress lower than a 12 months earlier than turning into simply the sixth member of the Home to be ousted by colleagues.
Santos admitted to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of almost a dozen individuals, together with his members of the family, to fund his successful marketing campaign. His plea deal included agreeing to pay roughly $580,000 in penalties.
“From the second he declared his candidacy for Congress, Santos leveraged his marketing campaign for his personal enrichment and monetary profit,” U.S. Lawyer John Durham, whose workplace prosecuted the case, stated exterior court docket.
Santos, 36, is because of report back to jail July 25. He didn’t reply to reporters’ shouted questions exterior the courthouse, however he had instructed The Related Press by textual content Thursday that he was “able to face the music.”
Santos’ victims included a lady with mind injury and two octogenarian males, prosecutor Ryan Harris instructed the choose.
Protection lawyer Andrew Mancilla had requested the choose for a sentence of two years, portraying Santos as a troubled determine who grew up in a “damaged home” and was subjected to bullying all through his life.
Because of this, “he constructed the person he needed to be, not who he was,” Mancilla stated. “He did that as a result of he believed that the world wouldn’t settle for him for who he was.”
“Deep down, he’s heat, sort, caring, and considerate,” Mancilla stated.
However, the lawyer stated, now “everybody hates George Santos.”
Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a rich district representing components of Queens and Lengthy Island for the GOP.
Quickly after, it was revealed that the political unknown had fabricated a lot of his life story, portray himself as a profitable enterprise proprietor who labored at prestigious Wall Road corporations and held a helpful actual property portfolio.
In actuality, Santos was struggling financially and even confronted eviction.
He falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a university he by no means even attended. He had referred to himself throughout the marketing campaign as “a proud American Jew,” however later acknowledged that he was Catholic and insisted he’d solely stated he was “Jew-ish” after studying that his maternal household had a Jewish background.
Reporters uncovered that Santos had been accused in Brazil of utilizing stolen checks to purchase clothes, and that he had as soon as been charged in Pennsylvania with using bad checks to buy puppies from canine breeders.
The revelations led to congressional and felony inquiries into how he had funded his campaign.
“He instructed lie after lie till it caught up with him — till we caught up with him and uncovered him for what he actually was: an opportunist and a fraud,” Nassau County District Lawyer Anne Donnelly, a Republican, stated exterior court docket Friday. Her workplace additionally investigated Santos.
Earlier than successful workplace, Santos collected unemployment advantages from New York state whereas truly working for a Florida firm. As soon as in Congress, he cosponsored laws supposed to root out unemployment fraud.
As his sentencing approached, Santos was reflective and apologetic in social media posts, however at different instances appeared to relish his notoriety.
He launched a podcast referred to as “Pants on Fireplace with George Santos,” and earned tons of of hundreds of {dollars} promoting cheerful, personalised video messages on Cameo.
He additionally leaned into his longtime help of President Donald Trump, praising the brand new administration whereas additionally saying that he wouldn’t take into account asking for clemency.
As his sentencing approached, Santos made one closing plug for his Cameo account.
“Assume forward and of any celebration or occasion developing later this 12 months. Guide them at the moment,” Santos wrote, ending the put up with a collection of coronary heart emojis.
Related Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this story.
