Prosecutors are in search of greater than seven years in jail for disgraced former congressman George Santos after he pleaded responsible to federal fraud and identification theft expenses.
The US lawyer for the japanese district of New York argued in a court docket submitting on Friday {that a} important sentence was warranted as a result of the New York Republican’s “unparalleled crimes” had “made a mockery” of the nation’s election system.
“He lied to his marketing campaign employees, his supporters, his putative employer and congressional colleagues, and the American public,” the workplace wrote. “From his creation of an entirely fictitious biography to his callous theft of cash from aged and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious urge for food for fame enabled him to take advantage of the very system by which we choose our representatives.”
The workplace additionally argued that Santos had been “unrepentant and defiant” for years, dismissing the prosecution as a “witch-hunt” and refusing to resign from Congress as his internet of lies was debunked.
Even after pleading responsible earlier than trial, prosecutors mentioned his claims of regret “ring hole”, noting that he has not forfeited any of his ill-gotten positive factors or repaid any of his victims.
“The amount of Santos’s lies and his extraordinary sample of dishonesty speaks to his excessive probability of reoffending and the concomitant must take away him from the group he has repeatedly victimized,” prosecutors wrote.
The 87-month sentence proposed by prosecutors represents the excessive finish of court docket pointers in such circumstances. That may be roughly 4 to 5 years behind bars plus a compulsory minimal two-year sentence for aggravated identification theft, they mentioned.
Santos’ attorneys didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail in search of remark Friday, which was the deadline for each side to submit their sentencing memos to court docket.
A federal decide on Lengthy Island is scheduled to listen to arguments and determine on Santos’ sentence throughout a court docket listening to on 25 April.
The once-rising Republican, who represented components of Queens and Lengthy Island, served barely a 12 months in workplace earlier than he was ousted by his Home colleagues in 2023 – simply the sixth congressperson ever expelled within the chamber’s historical past.
Santos’ political demise got here after it was revealed that he had fabricated a lot of his life story, resulting in questions on how the political unknown had funded his profitable marketing campaign.
The now-36-year-old solid himself as a rich businessman who had graduated from prime faculties, labored at prestigious Wall Road corporations and held a beneficial actual property portfolio. In reality, he was struggling financially and confronted eviction.
Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of practically a dozen folks, together with his family members, to make donations to his congressional marketing campaign.
He was initially on account of be sentenced in February, however a decide granted him a three-month reprieve to provide you with greater than half 1,000,000 {dollars} in court docket fines.
As a part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay practically $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture.
Santos’s attorneys mentioned on the time that he had little greater than $1,000 in liquid belongings and wanted extra time to construct his newly launched podcast Pants on Fireplace so as to start paying off the debt.
Prosecutors keep Santos profited handsomely from his infamy, arguing he has earned greater than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing web site Cameo and from a brand new documentary since his expulsion from Congress.
Two of Santos’s marketing campaign staffers have additionally pleaded responsible to federal expenses in connection to the marketing campaign financing scheme.
Sam Miele, his former marketing campaign fundraiser, was sentenced in March to at least one 12 months and someday in federal jail. He admitted to impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide and charging donors’ bank cards with out authorization whereas elevating marketing campaign money for Santos.
Nancy Marks, Santos’s former marketing campaign treasurer, admitted she submitted to federal regulators bogus marketing campaign finance reviews crammed with pretend donors and even a pretend $500,000 private mortgage from Santos himself.
The gildings helped Santos hit marketing campaign fundraising thresholds wanted to qualify for monetary backing from the nationwide Republican celebration.
Marks is because of be sentenced in Might.
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