Santos faces federal charges

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George Santos has been charged with 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.

This is a big deal. https://t.co/yvxQ6wkJYd

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 10, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/10/nyregion/george-santos-charges-news

Quote:Live Updates: George Santos Is in Custody Facing Federal Charges
The scandal-plagued congressman, who ran on a life story littered with lies, was charged in a wide-ranging indictment with wire fraud, money laundering, stealing public funds and lying on federal disclosure forms.

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Representative George Santos, a first-term congressman, has been besieged by questions about his background, his personal wealth and his campaign finances since December.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times



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May 10, 2023, 10:04 a.m. ET3 minutes ago
3 minutes ago
Grace Ashford, Michael Gold and William K. Rashbaum

Santos had been under investigation for his campaign finances and other activities.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Representative George Santos, the Republican whose pivotal victory in New York was soon followed by revelations that he had falsified his biography on the campaign trail, surrendered to the authorities at federal court on Long Island on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Santos was charged with 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.

The decision by federal prosecutors to take action against Mr. Santos marked a precipitous turn in the fortunes of a first-term congressman who went from a symbol of Republican resurgence to a scandal-plagued political punching bag.

Mr. Santos has been besieged by questions about his background, his personal wealth and his campaign finances since last December, when The New York Times and other outlets began reporting on numerous lies about his biography, education and work history that he had told voters on the campaign trail.

Subsequent reporting uncovered questions about how Mr. Santos had handled the finances of an animal rescue charity he had claimed to operate before running for Congress and how he had mingled his personal business and political campaign. It also found numerous irregularities in how his campaign spent and raised its funds.

Mr. Santos — who in recent weeks has courted media attention, including making an appearance outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald J. Trump was being arraigned — has not commented publicly on the charges against him. A spokeswoman in Washington referred all questions to Mr. Santos’s lawyer, who did not respond to requests for comment.

But for months, Mr. Santos has denied any criminal wrongdoing, even as he has admitted to lying about going to college and working for prestigious Wall Street firms.

The case against Mr. Santos is being prosecuted by the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which has been leading one of the inquiries into Mr. Santos’s financial and campaign activities.

That office has worked with the F.B.I. and the Nassau County district attorney’s office to investigate a number of leads, including a $19 million luxury yacht deal brokered by Mr. Santos between two of his wealthy donors.

When he appears before a judge on Wednesday, Mr. Santos will hear the government’s case against him. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors will argue for the terms of release they believe to be appropriate to ensure that Mr. Santos returns to court.

He could be released on his own recognizance, or required to pay monetary bail. He could be required to turn over his passports.
It is not yet clear whether Mr. Santos will lodge a plea or if he will be asked to do so in a subsequent hearing.

Mr. Santos is also currently facing investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which is looking at whether he failed to properly fill out required financial disclosure forms, violated federal conflict of interest laws or engaged in other unlawful activity during his campaign.

And he faces a criminal case in Brazil for check fraud that stemmed from an episode in 2008. Court records show that Mr. Santos spent nearly $700 using a stolen checkbook and a false name at a store near Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Santos confessed to the theft in 2010, but the case was paused when police and prosecutors were unable to locate him after he moved to the United States.

A hearing on that case is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
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May 10, 2023, 10:03 a.m. ET4 minutes ago
4 minutes ago
Nicholas Fandos and Rebecca Davis O’Brien

These are the charges against George Santos.

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The U.S. District Courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., where Representative George Santos is appearing on Wednesday to face a 13-count indictment.Credit...Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times



Federal prosecutors have charged Representative George Santos of New York with 13 counts of money laundering, stealing public money, wire fraud and making false statements to Congress.
Prosecutors said the charges resulted from “fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations” designed to enrich Mr. Santos, mislead donors and win a seat in Congress as a Republican from Queens.
Here is an overview of the charges contained in the indictment, which was unsealed on Wednesday.

• The bulk of the charges relate to what prosecutors said was a scheme by Mr. Santos to solicit donations from political donors and then pocket tens of thousands of dollars for personal expenses, including luxury goods and to pay off debts.
• As part of that arrangement, prosecutors accused Mr. Santos of committing five counts of wire fraud by falsely telling potential donors that contributions would be used for his congressional campaign. They said he used a limited liability company he controlled to collect two $25,000 contributions and employed another person to help. Mr. Santos then transferred the money to his personal bank accounts.
• He is charged with three counts of money laundering in connection to the donor solicitation scheme.
• Prosecutors charged the congressman with two more counts of wire fraud and one count of stealing public money in connection with what they said was a scheme to obtain unemployment benefits from New York beginning in June 2020. Even though he was earning $120,000 a year through his employment at a Florida-based investment company, they said he told the state he was unemployed and collected more than $24,000 in benefits.
• Prosecutors also charged Mr. Santos with two counts of making false statements to the House of Representatives on personal financial disclosure reports. In one case, they said he misstated his sources of income and in another that he overstated it.
  

[/url]Read the George Santos Indictment
Representative George Santos of New York was charged Wednesday by federal prosecutors with 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.
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Read the George Santos Indictment
Representative George Santos of New York was charged Wednesday by federal prosecutors with 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.

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May 10, 2023, 9:57 a.m. ET10 minutes ago
10 minutes ago
Nicholas Fandos

I just spoke to the chairman of the New York G.O.P., Ed Cox, who predicted local Republicans would defeat Santos if he does not resign. “He’s out, no matter how you do it, because we have a good party in Nassau County,” Cox said.
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Credit...Richard Drew/Associated Press

May 10, 2023, 9:47 a.m. ET21 minutes ago
21 minutes ago
Nate Schweber

George Santos arrived at the courthouse in an uncharacteristically low-profile manner. He slipped past a scrum of several dozen reporters from local and national outlets. Many of the disappointed had waited for hours and expected Santos to make a spectacle. None of them saw him.
It is unclear whether he traveled in a private or a police vehicle. The car passed through a manned guard station with a retractable orange-and-white roadblock arm. He entered via a back door of the building and is now being processed on the third floor.


May 10, 2023, 9:42 a.m. ET25 minutes ago
25 minutes ago
Rebecca Davis O’Brien

The charges leave some tantalizing questions unanswered, particularly about his second financial disclosure statement. For example, prosecutors say that he falsely certified that he earned $750,000 from his company, the Devolder Organization, and that he had received between $1 million and $5 million in dividends from Devolder. In the press release, prosecutors note: “These assertions were false. Santos had not received from the Devolder Organization the reported amounts of salary or dividends.”


May 10, 2023, 9:45 a.m. ET23 minutes ago
23 minutes ago
Rebecca Davis O’Brien
In other words, we know prosecutors are digging into his personal wealth, and the source of that mysterious money he loaned to his campaign. That may take a bit more time to suss out.


May 10, 2023, 9:37 a.m. ET30 minutes ago
30 minutes ago
Rebecca Davis O’Brien

Broadly, George Santos has been charged in three schemes outlined in the indictment:

First, a fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme, in which prosecutors say Santos and an unnamed Queens-based political consultant induced donors to give money to an LLC he controlled. He then used the money for personal expenses, including to buy designer goods and to pay off personal debts.


May 10, 2023, 9:37 a.m. ET30 minutes ago
30 minutes ago
Rebecca Davis O’Brien
Second, an unemployment insurance fraud scheme: Prosecutors say that in June 2020, in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Santos applied for government assistance in New York, even though he was at the time employed by a Florida-based investment firm and drew an annual salary of $120,000.


May 10, 2023, 9:40 a.m. ET27 minutes ago
27 minutes ago
Rebecca Davis O’Brien
And, finally, the indictment says Santos misled the House of Representatives about his financial condition. In May 2020 – during his first, unsuccessful campaign – he is accused of overstating one source of income while failing to disclose his investment firm salary. And in September 2022, when he ran a second time, Santos is accused of including a number of falsehoods in his financial disclosure form.