Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was sentenced Friday to seven years and three months in jail, placing a bookend on the greater than two-year scandal that captivated Washington and introduced the New York Republican from a GOP trailblazer to an embarrassing stain on the occasion.
The sentence marks the most recent improvement within the drama that surrounded the previous congressman, who earned reward as the primary brazenly homosexual Republican to win a Home seat as a nonincumbent in 2022 earlier than turning into the face of controversy after his background was uncovered as a sequence of outlandish lies.
The storm surrounding Santos on Capitol Hill hit an apex in December 2023, when he was expelled from the Home in a bipartisan vote, turning into the sixth lawmaker in historical past to be ousted from the decrease chamber.
As his political profession nosedived, prosecutors charged Santos with 23 federal counts over a number of felony schemes. He took a deal final summer season that included pleading responsible to wire fraud and aggravated identification theft.
Federal legislation mandated that U.S. District Choose Joanna Seybert, an appointee of former President Clinton who oversaw the case, sentence Santos to at the very least two years, given the severity of his prices.
Santos’s attorneys contended that punishment is adequate given his regret, however the decide’s 87-month sentence matches prosecutors’ suggestion.
As a part of his plea deal, Santos admitted to submitting false marketing campaign finance reviews, charging donors’ bank cards with out authorization and fraudulently receiving unemployment advantages, amongst different issues, saying he was taking duty for the “lies I have told myself.”
He additionally agreed as a part of the deal to pay practically $374,000 in restitution and a forfeiture judgment of roughly $205,000.
Central to his sentencing was whether or not Santos really felt remorseful. Prosecutors urged the lengthier sentence by asserting he “remains unrepentant,” pointing to his latest social media posts attacking the Justice Division.
Santos pushed again in a letter to the decide earlier this week, telling Seybert he was dedicated to creating amends for his crimes.
“But saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head. True remorse isn’t mute; it is aware of itself, and it speaks up when the penalty scale jumps into the absurd,” Santos wrote.
Santos’s sentencing places an finish to his gorgeous rise and fall on Capitol Hill. His election in 2022, which flipped a blue seat crimson, was hailed as a boon for Republicans till weeks later; earlier than he was even sworn into workplace, The New York Occasions reported that a number of components of his biography and resume have been fabricated.
From the minute he arrived on Capitol Hill, he was mired in controversy, which culminated with a historic vote in December 2023 to expel him from the chamber. A bipartisan group of lawmakers got here collectively to help his ouster, overcoming the inflated two-thirds threshold required for expulsion.
The transfer reverberated in Congress. Santos’s expulsion left Home Republicans, already grappling with a razor-thin majority, down a key vote. Later, in February 2024, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) received a particular election to exchange Santos, placing the purple district again into Democratic fingers.
Along with his trial within the rearview mirror and the sentencing determined, Santos is now staring down time behind bars — a actuality that he, throughout an intensive sit-down interview within the Capitol the day earlier than his expulsion, mentioned he was frightened about.
“Wouldn’t you be? I mean, of course,” Santos advised reporters when requested if he was scared to go to jail. “That’s why I made it very clear that I am, you know, standing my ground, but of course, everybody should be. These are serious allegations and I have a lot of work ahead of me.”
Up to date at 12:47 p.m. EDT
