George Santos sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for fraud and identity theft
Central Islip, NY (AP) – Former American dishonest representative George Santos was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison, sobbing while learning his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress.
Santos, who declared himself guilty last summer of federal fraud and theft of aggravated identity, appealed to mercy. In a Federal Federal Court in the short term of his former district of Congress, he said through the tears that he was “humiliated” and “punished” and realized that he had betrayed his voters’ confidence.
“I offer my deepest apologies,” he said, he added: “I can’t rewrite the past, but I can control the way ahead.”
The judge of the United States District Court, Joanna Seybert, was obviously not convinced.
“Where is your remorse? Where do I see it?” He asked as he felt it 87 months after bars. “It’s always another person’s fault.”
The New York Republican served in Congress less than a year before becoming the sixth member of the Chamber that members.
Santos admitted cheating donors and stealing the identities of almost a dozen people, including their family members, to finance their winning campaign. Its guilt agreement included accepting to pay approximately $ 580,000 in fines.
“From the moment he declared his candidacy for Congress, Santos took advantage of his campaign for his own enrichment and financial benefit,” said US prosecutor John Durham, whose office prosecuted the case, outside the court.
Via News
Santos, 36, will be presented to the prison on July 25. He did not answer the questions shouted by journalists outside the court, but he had told News on Thursday that he was “ready to face music.”
The victims of Santos included a woman with brain damage and two octogenarian men, said prosecutor Ryan Harris to the judge.
Defensor lawyer Andrew Mancilla had asked the judge for a two -year sentence, portraying Santos as a problematic figure that grew in a “broken house” and underwent bullying throughout his life.
As a result, “he built the man who wanted to be, not who he was,” Mancilla said. “He did that because he believed that the world would not accept it for what it was.”
“In the background, it’s warm, friendly, affectionate and reflective,” said Mancilla.
But, said the lawyer, now “everyone hates George Santos.”
Santos was chosen in 2022, turning a rich district that represents parts of Queens and Long Island for the Republican party.
Shortly after, it was revealed that the political unknown had manufactured much of his life story, painting himself as a successful owner of a business that worked in prestigious Wall Street companies and had a valuable portfolio of real estate.
Via News
Actually, Santos was fighting financially and even faced the eviction.
He falsely said he was a volleyball star at a university he never attended. He had referred to himself during the campaign as “a proud American Jew”, but then acknowledged that he was Catholic and insisted that he had only said that he was “Jewish” after learning that his maternal family had a history of Jews.
The reporters discovered that Santos had been accused in Brazil of wearing stolen checks to buy clothes, and that once he had been accused in Pennsylvania for wearing bad checks to buy puppies of dog breeders.
The revelations led to Congress and Criminal investigations on how he had financed his campaign.
“He told him to lie after lying until he reached it, until we reached it and exposed him for what he really was: an opportunist and fraud,” said a fraud of the county of Nassau, Anne Donnelly, Republican, Republican, on Friday outside the court. His office also investigated Santos.
Before winning the position, Santos collected unemployment benefits from the state of New York while working for a Florida company. Once in Congress, he co -crocked legislation with the intention of eliminating unemployment fraud.
As his sentence approached, Santos was reflective and apologized in publications on social networks, but at other times he seemed to enjoy his notoriety.
He launched a podcast called “Pants on fire with George Santos”, and won hundreds of thousands of dollars selling cheerful and personalized video messages in Cameo.
He also leaned in his former support for President Donald Trump, praising the new administration and at the same time saying that he would not consider asking for clemency.
When his sentence approached, Santos made a final plug for his cameo account.
“Think of the future and any celebration or event that will come at the end of this year. Reserve today,” Santos wrote, ending the publication with a series of heart emojis.
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News Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz writers contributed to this story.
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