By Ailya Khan
Staff Writer
Federal prosecutors have accused Rep. George Santos of stealing donor’s identities and fraudulently ringing up tens of thousands of dollars on their credit cards in unauthorized charges. The Congressman was charged in an indictment that added 10 new felony charges to his pre-existing 13 charges.
In May, Santos was indicted on 13 criminal counts. These charges filed by the Eastern District of New York included, seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Santos, 35, has pleaded not guilty to these charges, according to ABC News
On Oct. 10, a 23-count superseding indictment was filed by the Eastern District of New York. This indictment charged Santos with one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud, in addition to the original 13 felony charges, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors have claimed that Santos charged more than $44,000 to his campaign gradually over a period of months, secretly using credit cards belonging to campaign contributors without their knowledge and pocketing a significant majority of this money into his personal account, according to AP News. He also allegedly secured $50,000 from two other donors under the premise of a fake nonprofit and utilized this money towards designer goods and personal debts, according to The New York Times. Among other charges, Santos has also been accused of falsely reporting a loan of $500,000 for his campaign to the FEC.
The updated 23-count superseding indictment followed shortly after Santos’s campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to the charge of fraudulently reporting the previously mentioned $500,000 loan to the FEC, admitting her role in conspiring to defraud the United States. Marks affirmed in a court statement that she worked with an unnamed co-conspirator, later confirmed to be Santos, to make reports of false donations and fabricating the loan, according to the New York Times.
Santos and Marks conspired this fraudulent plan in order to obtain money for his campaign, and to ensure it qualified for a program administered by the national party committee. By demonstrating that Santos's congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors within a single quarter, the campaign would be eligible for the program and would receive financial and logistical support from the national party committee. The goal of the false loan report was to thus convince Republicans of Santos’s strong standing as a serious political candidate capable of success.
Despite facing these new criminal charges, Rep. Santos remains adamant and refuses to accept any sort of plea deal, denying that he defrauded any donors, faked fundraising goals or embezzled money from the campaign. He is due back in court on Oct. 27. Additionally, Santos remains determined to run for reelection in 2024 to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District, according to CNN.
Rep. Santos’s recent indictment propels Republicans on Capitol Hill into further political disarray, as they are already grappling with the situation regarding their own members recently ousting Kevin McCarthy as speaker. Santos was an integral part of the Republicans winning a narrow House majority in the 2022 midterm elections, and whether or not this status will hold relies heavily upon the future outcomes of the new indictment.
