Now former Congressman George Santos held a press conference on the House Triangle outside of the United States Capitol on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. He has since been expelled from Congress since Friday. Dec. 1, 2023.
Federal prosecutors in the fraud case against former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) say that recent social media posts from the disgraced ex-congressman show that he “remains unrepentant for his crimes.” His sentencing is scheduled for April 25.
The prosecutors argue that Santos’ posts signify that he will likely commit fraud again and, thus, he should be imprisoned for the maximum sentence of seven years. However, Santos called his posts a form of “protected speech” and accused prosecutors of trying to “drop an anvil” on his head. His lawyers have asked for him to serve only two years in prison.
Related:
In a court document filed last week, prosecutors noted Santos’ recent posts on X denying that he had used campaign funds to buy from the high-end fashion brand Hermes (something he had already pled guilty to) and “portraying himself as a victim of prosecutorial overreach and selective prosecution.”
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
In one such post, Santos referred to himself as a “scapegoat” for his campaign’s financial misdealing. In another post, he referred to the U.S. government as a “cabal of pedophiles” (language used by the anti-LGBTQ+ QAnon conspiracy theory movement).
“Put plainly, Santos is not genuinely remorseful, despite accepting responsibility as part of his allocution,” prosecutors wrote. “If he were, his actions would be different. At a minimum, one would expect Santos to approach sentencing with a modicum of restraint so as not to undermine the attorneys who have advocated for leniency on his behalf.”
“Instead,” the attorneys continued, “Santos has reverted to form and approaches sentencing with belligerence and an insatiable appetite for ‘likes,’ blaming his situation on everyone except himself.”
In response, Santos also wrote the court, stating that he remains “profoundly sorry” for his crimes, but adding that his guilty plea doesn’t “require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head.”
“Punishing protected speech because it questions punishment should trouble anyone who values fair prosecution over personal vindication,” he wrote.
“Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,” he wrote, nothing that he didn’t ask his friends and family to write letters on his behalf to the court because “I don’t want to bring anyone else in my life into this mess. This is mine to deal with and mine alone.”
What is George Santos guilty of?
Last August, Santos admitted to using campaign funds, another person’s identity, and their credit cards for his own personal benefit. A November 16, 2023, House Ethics Committee report accused Santos of illegally spending campaign funds on luxury goods, OnlyFans subscriptions, and cosmetic Botox treatments. Immediately after, the House voted to expel Santos in a 311-114 vote that included 105 Republicans and surpassing the 290 votes needed for expulsion.
Santos originally faced 23 federal charges of campaign finance fraud, including wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to both the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives. He initially pleaded “not guilty” to all charges, calling them a “baseless” “witch hunt,” but later accepted a plea deal to avoid a public weeks-long trial and possible decades in prison time.
Santos has since admitted that he lied about graduating from Baruch College and New York University, working directly for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and living at a fake address in his congressional district. He provided no additional proof to back up claims that he founded a charity called Friends of Pets, that he lost four employees in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, and that his mother died in connection to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” DOJ prosecutors wrote in their request for a seven-year prison sentence.
Requesting a two-year prison sentence instead, Santos’ lawyers wrote, “[Santos’] personal history, his cooperation in a separate federal investigation, the non-violent nature of his offenses, his lack of any criminal history, the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities—support a [lesser sentence].”
