U.S. Rep. Santos speaks to reporters as he leaves the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., Wednesday, May 10, 2023 (AP Photo/Seth Wenig).
It’s been a long day for George Santos.
On Monday, the expelled former House Republican representative from New York entered a guilty plea in federal court, admitting that he engaged in fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The aggravated identity theft charge carries a two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence but the guilty plea means Santos will avoid facing criminal trial. That trial was slated for next month in New York where Santos faced 23 total criminal charges.
And on Monday, just hours before entering his guilty plea, he was dealt a blow by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton. Cote found that the embroiled former congressman’s February lawsuit against late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel alleging deceptive practices and copyright infringement simply wasn’t up to snuff and she dismissed it.
As Law&Crime reported, Santos, 36, was indicted in May 2023 on 13 charges including wire fraud, stealing public funds, lying on government forms and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to those charges on May 10. Then, in October, he was hit with a new round of charges including conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., credit card fraud, aggravated identity theft and more, like making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsifying records he submitted to that agency.
One of the questions that arose for investigators, for example, was how the congressman, who had reported no assets and had a salary of $55,000 in 2020, came to report income of between $1 million and $5 million from his company, Devolder Organization, in 2022.
When he was indicted, prosecutors alleged “he used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.”
Prosecutors also said he directed a consultant to falsely tell donors their money would assist election efforts when he actually transferred funds to his own personal bank accounts and then went shopping for luxury designer clothes and paid off his own personal debts.
According to The Hill, Santos appeared before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert to enter his plea. He will be sentenced on Feb. 7.
Santos rose to political prominence among conservatives courtesy of sweeping fabrications he made about his personal life. He had claimed he graduated from Baruch College, became a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor” at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and had a registered charity called Friends of Pets United.
A New York Times investigation revealed there was no evidence that any of that was true and what followed was a quick unraveling. Other discrepancies were unearthed about Santos as well, like those around his own ethnic background including genealogy records contradicting his claims that his grandparents escaped the Holocaust.
Santos acknowledged he exaggerated his ties to Judaism, calling himself “Jew-ish.”
After he was expelled from the House, Santos took to Cameo, a website where celebrities and entertainers can make and sell personalized videos. Santos’ notoriety for his short and raucous time in Congress created earning potential for the lawmaker — and it also caught the attention of late night entertainer and television host Jimmy Kimmel.
Jimmy Kimmel commissioned ousted congressman George Santos without letting him know it was him. (Screenshots: Jimmy Kimmel Live and Santos’ Cameo account)
Kimmel commissioned and broadcast videos that Santos posted on Cameo for a sketch on his show and, as Law&Crime reported in February, Santos claimed that Kimmel aired five of 14 videos commissioned without disclosing his real identity.
The videos featured Santos congratulating a legally blind driver who earned her license and then also offering his wishes for her to get better after she soon got into a car crash. Other subjects include support for a man who came out as a beaver-platypus furry, and offering congratulations to a woman who successfully cloned her dog named Adolf at the expense of other canines in the trial runs.
“Hey, Brenda, I wanted to congratulate you on successfully cloning your beloved Schnauzer, Adolf,” Santos said in one Cameo. “I know it was a lot of trials and tribulations, but you finally did it.”
In the opinion from Cote dismissing Santos’ lawsuit, she wrote that Kimmel used the videos under “fair use” exceptions to copyright laws and further, she wrote, any “reasonable observer” would realize it was the late night host’s prerogative to comment on the “willingness” of Santos “to say absurd things for money.”
Kimmel did not engage in “deliberate deception” in order to get possession of the videos, she wrote.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
