George Santos
George Santos (Photo: Shutterstock)

Despite his earlier protestations of innocence, former GOP Rep. George Santos yesterday pleaded guilty to two felonies.

The apparent plea deal comes a few weeks before Santos, 36, was due to stand trial on 23 charges relating to wire fraud, identity theft, and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

Santos appeared in court in Long Island, New York, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Although the plea means he now avoids a prolonged trial, he is still likely to face jail time. Aggravated identity theft alone carries a mandatory two-year jail sentence. Legal experts suspect he might get between 6-7 years.

Comedown

It’s a humbling, crashing comedown for the first out-gay Republican lawmaker elected to Congress.

Not soon after his unexpected victory in November 2022, reports began to emerge of audacious lies Santos had told on his résumé. This led authorities to take a closer look at his murky campaign finances.

In December 2023, following months of controversy, fellow lawmakers voted to expel Santos from the House.

Yesterday, Santos gave an emotional speech to reporters outside the courthouse.

“It’s clear to me now that I allowed ambition to cloud my judgment, leading me to make decisions that were unethical and guilty,” Santos said.

“Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I’d take, but it is a necessary one because it is the right thing to do,” Santos continued. “It’s not only a recognition of my misrepresentations to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I told myself over these past years.”

Santos ordered to come up with money

Santos will be sentenced on February 7. He must also pay nearly $373,750 in restitution and forfeit over $205,000. He needs to come up with the latter at least 30 days before his sentencing.

The latter point was argued somewhat toward the end of Santos’ court appearance yesterday. His attorneys said he would try to come up with the cash but, “at this time he doesn’t have the money.”

Santos buried his head in his hands as his attorneys argued the matter with prosecutors. The latter said that if Santos was unable to come up with the cash, they’d move to liquidate his assets.

“Today, for what may seem like the first time since he started his campaign for Congress, Mr. Santos told the truth about his criminal schemes. He admitted to lying, stealing and conning people,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, afterward.

Santos’ attempt to sue Jimmy Kimmel is tossed out

Santos’ guilty plea came on the same day he suffered another, unrelated legal defeat.

At the start of the year, Santos started selling personalized Cameo videos. Jimmy Kimmel ordered some using a fake name. He then played clips from them on his TV show.

Santos was outraged and tried to sue for copyright infringement. He accused Kimmel of “deliberate deception and wrongful appropriation”.

District Judge Denise Cote yesterday dismissed Santos’ claims. She said Kimmel’s “fair use” of the videos was not cause for legal action.

“In short, a reasonable observer would understand that [Jimmy Kimmel Live] showed the Videos to comment on the willingness of Santos — a public figure who had recently been expelled from Congress for allegedly fraudulent activity including enriching himself through a fraudulent contribution scheme — to say absurd things for money,” Cote wrote in her decision.

America’s Next Top Model

Over the weekend, Santos talked to the New York Post about his legal woes. He admitted he’d told lies.

“I know lying’s inexcusable. I know I shouldn’t lie. Look, I’m human. I’ve made mistakes,” Santos told journalist Cindy Adams.

“I should sue producers of ‘America’s Next Top Model’ because I watched too much of that as a kid. I created all these insecurities about myself,” he claimed, bizarrely.

Another snippet of the podcast interview has gone viral online over the last 24 hours. Whilst in Congress, Santos was known for his shirt/sweater combos. It turns out he never wore dress shirts but instead wore special T-shirts with formal shirt collars and shirt sleeves attached.

“I’ve been using the sweater over the collared shirt, which, by the way, the dress shirt is fake. It’s a T-shirt with a collar and cuff links … there’s a bunch of those bozos in Washington now that use the same look.”

Santos said he went for that option as it’s “more comfortable and breathable.”

The admission was deemed as one deceit too many for some online.

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