George Santos charged with stealing donor IDs, using credit cards | AP News
By: JAKE OFFENHARTZ (AP News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. George Santos stole the identities of donors to his campaign and then used their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges, according to a new indictment.
He then wired some of the money to his own personal bank account, prosecutors said, while using the rest to inflate his campaign coffers.
The 23-count indictment filed Tuesday replaces one filed in May against the New York Republican charging him with embezzling money from his campaign and lying to Congress about his wealth, among other offenses.
In the updated indictment, prosecutors accuse Santos of charging more than $44,000 to his campaign over a period of months using cards belonging to contributors without their knowledge. In one case, he charged $12,000 to a contributor's credit card and transferred the "vast majority" of that money into his personal bank account, prosecutors said.
Other news Former New York congressman wants to retake seat as Santos' legal woes mountEx-treasurer for Rep. George Santos pleads guilty to conspiracy, tells of bogus loan and fake donorsSantos misses extended deadline to file financial disclosure, blames fear of a 'rushed job'
Santos is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Elections Commission that he had loaned his campaign $500,000 when he actually hadn't given anything and had less than $8,000 in the bank. The fake loan was an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate, worth their financial support, the indictment said.
"As alleged, Santos is charged with stealing people's identities and making charges on his own donors' credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
Santos came out of a two-hour Republican conference at the U.S. Capitol and told reporters he had no comment on the superseding indictment. "I was in conference like everyone else, without my phone, so I have nothing to say," he said. He has previously maintained his innocence, claiming he is the victim of a "witch hunt."
The new charges deepen the legal peril for Santos, who likely faces a lengthy prison term if convicted. So far, he has resisted all calls to resign, insisting he intends to run for reelection next year.
Santos' personal and professional biography as a wealthy businessman began to unravel soon after winning election to represent parts of Long Island and Queens last year, revealing a tangled web of deception.
In addition to lying to voters — about his distinguished Wall Street background, Jewish heritage, academic and athletic achievements, animal rescue work, real estate holdings and more — Santos is accused of carrying out numerous schemes meant to enrich himself and mislead his donors.
He was initially arrested in May on a 13-count federal indictment, which charged him with using funds earmarked for campaign expenses on designer clothes and other personal expenses and improperly obtaining unemployment benefits meant for Americans who lost work because of the pandemic.
Free on bail while awaiting trial, Santos has described his litany of lies as victimless embellishments, while blaming some of his financial irregularities on his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who he claims "went rogue."
Last week, Marks, a longtime Long Island political bookkeeper, pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge, telling a judge she helped her former boss hoodwink prospective donors and Republican party officials by submitting bogus campaign finance reports.
Tuesday's indictment said Marks and Santos were involved in the same scheme to fake a $500,000 campaign loan in order to meet a benchmark that would unlock additional support from a Republican Party committee. Santos has now also been charged with recording fake donations from at least 10 people, all his or Marks' relatives, as part of the same effort to make the campaign look like it hit those fundraising goals.
Santos was not initially charged in the criminal complaint against Marks, but was identified in court papers as a "co-conspirator."
The new indictment alleges a multi-part fraud by Santos, who allegedly duped both his donors and his family members.
In one instance, Santos allegedly swiped the credit card information of one of his contributors, who had already donated $5,800 to the campaign, to give himself an additional $15,800 in payments, the indictment said. Because the unauthorized charges exceeded contribution limits under federal law, Santos listed the additional payments as coming from his own unwitting relatives, prosecutors allege.
The credit card fraud scheme began in December 2021, prosecutors said, shortly after Santos failed to qualify for a Republican Party program that would have provided financial and logistical support to his second congressional campaign.
In text messages to Marks at the time, he described himself as "lost and desperate," prosecutors said.
Financial questions have continued to swirl around Santos, who claimed to be rich but spent much of his adulthood bouncing between low-paying jobs and unemployment, while fending off eviction cases and two separatecriminal charges relating to his use of bad checks.
A separate fundraiser for Santos, Sam Miele, was also previously indicted on federal charges that he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while soliciting contributions for the Republican's campaign.
Prosecutors said Miele, 27, impersonated the former chief of staff to GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who at the time was the House minority leader, by setting up dummy email addresses that resembled the staffer's name.
Miele's attorney, Kevin Marino, previously predicted his client would be exonerated at trial.
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Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
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Speaker of the House material.
hey, at least he isn't a trump supporting, gun loving, religious wacko divorcee that dropped out of high school and likes to give a bar owning democrat in aspen a hand job in a theater while on a security camera... >whew<
He seems like a really upstanding kind of guy. His parents must be proud.
Addendum: I guess his mother died, so she's not so proud.
she probably offed herself. those old mackerel snapping relics don't handle the guilt very well when their male offspring develop a taste for tube steaks...
No Speaker means Santos stays.
gosh, where would the GOP be without their poster boy* in the house?
*there's a new explicit definition for GOP poster boy now. ask any xtian nationalist.
Perhaps if they remain deadlocked they should choose Santos as speaker?
It looks like he is going to get the boot finally.
They have to pick a Speaker first and then it takes 2/3rds vote of the House to expel. The punted back in May when the Dems put a resolution on the floor.
They may take a while. House Republicans are too busy being busy!
(And what are they busy doing? Yapping and politicaling. Attacking each other!
And of course getting nothing done.
Well perhaps I'm exaggerating. They have had considerable success in weakening our military-- as well as doing their best to weaken an important ally in time of great need
Tuberville will continue block on US military nominees despite Hamas attack on Israel
While I agree that he's slimy enough to deserve the boot, I suspect that vote won't actually pass. The Republican advantage is just too small that I suspect enough Republicans would not vote to expel at this time. The Ethics Committee has not yet reported back and if they expel based on indictments rather than convictions then doesn't that put additional pressure on the Senate to expel Robert Menendez?
The Ethics Committee has been 'investigating since March.
It should, they should and he should be.
Agreed
Not without a Speaker and the dems are going to vote as a solid partisan bloc against anyone the Republicans name.
So, you seriously support this lying POS?
This is absolutely no surprise given all that has come out about him.
Another con man, Wishful.
Bigly.
This guy is a piece of fuckin work, isn’t he.
It's unbelievable, these charges could result in some really hard jail time.
Well, hopefully he will have some company-- there's a distinct possibility that some other American politician will soon have an extensive wardrobe of Orange jumpsuits as well!
The republican party needs to grow a pair and expel this piece of crap.
I just saw where a republican lawmaker filed a resolution to expel Santos from Congress.
See comment 2.
Let’s hope they have the stones to vote him out.
Just watch them strike a deal contingent on him voting for Scalise.
I was thinking the same thing.
Now the likely deal is to vote for Jordan.
The guy with no solutions, no ideas and no spine. He's never done anything in congress but yell and scream, the guy is worthless.
Worse, a Trump sycophant.
he gets pretty quiet whenever there's a pedophile and teenage boys around...
Arrogant little bitch
Why does anyone care about George Santos? He couldnt be more insignificant if he tried.
I like to laugh at him. Besides, my friend Kavika seeded this article and I'm here to support his article
I care because the new charges if convicted he is going to do some really hard time.
Relax, JR.
maybe he wants to go to club fed...
Excellent point!
In fact all lawbreakers should escape any kind of punishment. And those imprisoned should be set free-- it would make for a better world!
Ya know, I think he's more attractive as a woman
LOL, yeah he is.
Well, whatever he "identifies" as-- he won't be lonely in jail-- in fact I bet he'd have no shortage of lovers!
Hmmmm. Sounds just like some other scofflaw we know.
Lol …. What a douche bag.
a republican douche bag...
George Santos threatens to ruin Republicans who vote to expel him from Congress
I'm betting the farm he's co-sponsored more than bills with the entire spread of rwnj bible thumpers in congress...
I'm sure they're all terrified of that
(/sarc)
What does it take to get that loser removed from office?
republicans with balls. seen any around?
First they need to elect a damn speaker instead of playing games. The bastards who stand up spouting they were elected to represent their districts and do the People's Work, are not doing the People's work while there's no Speaker.
But while the margin between R's and D's is so narrow I doubt if the House will remove him from office. This will probably need to wait until the '24 elections where I truly hope the people in his district completely dump him.
So you're saying that McCarthy wasn't the Speaker?
Maybe McCarthy is having a torrid secret affair with Santos.
Santos sucks McCarthy's gavel.
That's not what my post said at all. When you wish to intelligently discuss the topic I will respond appropriately but until then I request you not try to put words into my mouth that I did not say.
If that's a personal attack-- surely you can do better!
Well if you think my comment is a personal attack, then maybe you should report it to a mod. After that maybe you could do some research on personal attacks and reread my entire comment.
I saw where George thas threatened to quit congress if Republicans work with Dems to pick new speaker.
I'm sure that everyone is really worried about that. /s
Yep, quaking in their boots they are.
If Santos does quit, hopefully he will take Gaetz and Large Marge with him. Ah we could only hope.
Totally agree, Doc.