The disgraced former congressman is set to be sentenced on April 25. His lawyers asked for a penalty of two years, the minimum allowed.
The disgraced former congressman is set to be sentenced on April 25. His lawyers asked for a penalty of two years, the minimum allowed.
The disgraced former congressman is set to be sentenced on April 25. His lawyers asked for a penalty of two years, the minimum allowed.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of more than seven years for George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York whose career unraveled after much of his résumé was revealed to be the product of a stunning series of lies.
In a court filing on Friday, prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York asked for a sentence of 87 months for Mr. Santos to reflect the “seriousness of his unparalleled crimes.”
In 2023, prosecutors charged Mr. Santos with 23 felony counts while he was still a representative in Congress. He pleaded guilty last August, after his expulsion from the House, to two of those charges, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and admitted to an array of other deceits.
Mr. Santos, 36, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25. Guidelines call for a sentence of roughly six to seven years in prison, though the judge in the case will make the final decision.
In his drive for wealth and electoral victory, the prosecutors’ filing said, Mr. Santos fabricated his past and engaged in a series of schemes, including inflating his fund-raising numbers and stealing from donors. “He lied to his campaign staff, his supporters, his putative employer and congressional colleagues, and the American public,” the prosecutors wrote.
“Santos’s conduct has made a mockery of our election system,” they added.
In a separate filing on Friday, lawyers for Mr. Santos asked for a sentence of two years, the minimum allowed for aggravated identity theft, followed by probation. Mr. Santos has acknowledged the gravity of his crimes, the filing said, and agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution.