Federal prosecutors are urging a judge to sentence disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos to seven years and three months in prison, calling his conduct a “brazen web of deceit” that defrauded donors, misled voters, and fueled his political rise through lies, theft, and identity fraud.
The government outlined the extent of Santos’s fraudulent activity across the 2020 and 2022 election cycles in a detailed sentencing memo filed on Friday.
Prosecutors allege Santos, 35, with the help of former Campaign Treasurer Nancy Marks, falsified Federal Election Commission filings, fabricating donor contributions and inflating fundraising totals to meet the $250,000 threshold required to join the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) coveted “Young Guns” program. Marks pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing in June.
When informed he hadn’t reached the NRCC benchmark, Santos texted an associate, “We are going to do this a little differently. I got it.”
That “different” approach included submitting fake donations attributed to family members, fictitious individuals and even identities stolen from elderly supporters, according to the filing.
Rep. George Santos walks into the House Republican cloakroom at the Capitol, Nov. 28, 2023.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
In tandem, Santos was running a fraudulent political consulting firm, Redstone Strategies LLC, falsely presenting it as a registered Super PAC or 501(c)(4) nonprofit. It was neither, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Santos used Redstone to launder donor money, keep commissions and fund personal expenses. In one scheme, he used an elderly woman’s credit card — originally provided for a one-time donation — to charge $12,000 through Redstone’s merchant account, netting himself $11,580 after fees. He wired the money directly into his personal bank account.
When questioned by his business partner, Santos lied, claiming the woman — who suffers from a brain injury — was a consulting client, according to the filing. Between February and August 2022, prosecutors say Santos used her credit card repeatedly, attributing donations to her, her daughter, or fictitious names.
Another victim, referred to as “Individual 2” in the filing, had their credit card charged at least five times in March 2022, totaling more than $30,000 in fake campaign contributions, including some attributed to Santos’s uncle and to people who didn’t exist. These donations were strategically routed to other campaigns that were clients of Redstone, ensuring Santos earned a financial kickback while boosting his political visibility.
In July 2020, he used another victim’s credit card to contribute $28,400 to his own campaign, some under the name of a personal friend who neither donated nor gave consent, according to the filing.
In April 2022, prosecutors say Santos falsely reported a $500,000 personal loan to his campaign, enabling him to boast an $800,000 Q1 fundraising haul. He approved a press release promoting the lie and pitched the narrative in conversations with Republican leaders, including a sitting congresswoman. According to the prosecution, the loan never existed.
That lie, combined with his doctored FEC filings and a fabricated resume claiming degrees from NYU and jobs at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, helped Santos secure Young Guns status from the NRCC in June 2022. The designation brought significant support: $103,000 in advertising, $33,000 in polling, and direct contributions from joint fundraising efforts.
However, by fall 2022, campaign staffers discovered the truth. When confronted about the nonexistent loan, Santos admitted it wasn’t real and scrambled to fill the gap by soliciting a $450,000 loan from a donor referred to as “Individual 1” in the filing. Santos wired $400,000 of it to his campaign, never reported it to the FEC, and never repaid the donor. He covered the remaining $100,000 by misappropriating more funds from the same donor via Redstone.
Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023 and has pleaded guilty wire fraud and aggravated identity fraud.
Defense attorneys said in their own memo Santos deserves no more than two years in prison, arguing he “accepted full responsibility for his actions.”
“This plea is not just an admission of guilt,” Santos told reporters in August. “It’s an acknowledgment that I need to be held accountable like any other American that breaks the law.”
The former congressman’s sentencing is on April 30.
