George Santos Sentenced To Over 7 Years In Prison For Fraud And Identity Theft | EUROtoday

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to over seven years in jail, sobbing as he realized his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress.

Santos, who pleaded responsible final summer season to federal wire fraud and aggravated id theft, appealed for mercy. In a federal court docket a brief drive from his previous congressional district, he mentioned by way of tears that he was “humbled” and “chastised” and realized he had betrayed his constituents’ belief.

“I offer my deepest apologies,” he mentioned, including: “I cannot rewrite the past, but I can control the road ahead.”

U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert evidently wasn’t satisfied.

“Where is your remorse? Where do I see it?” she requested as she sentenced him to 87 months behind bars. “It’s always someone else’s fault.”

The New York Republican served in Congress lower than a yr earlier than changing into simply the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues.

Santos admitted to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of almost a dozen individuals, together with his members of the family, to fund his profitable marketing campaign. His plea deal included agreeing to pay roughly $580,000 in penalties.

“From the moment he declared his candidacy for Congress, Santos leveraged his campaign for his own enrichment and financial benefit,” U.S. Attorney John Durham, whose workplace prosecuted the case, mentioned exterior court docket.

Santos, 36, is because of report back to jail July 25. He didn’t reply to reporters’ shouted questions exterior the courthouse, however he had advised The Associated Press by textual content Thursday that he was “ready to face the music.”

Santos’ victims included a lady with mind injury and two octogenarian males, prosecutor Ryan Harris advised the choose.

Defense lawyer Andrew Mancilla had requested the choose for a sentence of two years, portraying Santos as a troubled determine who grew up in a “broken house” and was subjected to bullying all through his life.

As a end result, “he built the man he wanted to be, not who he was,” Mancilla mentioned. “He did that because he believed that the world would not accept him for who he was.”

“Deep down, he is warm, kind, caring, and thoughtful,” Mancilla mentioned.

But, the lawyer mentioned, now “everyone hates George Santos.”

Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a rich district representing components of Queens and Long Island for the GOP.

Soon after, it was revealed that the political unknown had fabricated a lot of his life story, portray himself as a profitable enterprise proprietor who labored at prestigious Wall Street companies and held a precious actual property portfolio.

In actuality, Santos was struggling financially and even confronted eviction.

He falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a university he by no means even attended. He had referred to himself in the course of the marketing campaign as “a proud American Jew,” however later acknowledged that he was Catholic and insisted he’d solely mentioned he was “Jew-ish” after studying that his maternal household had a Jewish background.

Reporters uncovered that Santos had been accused in Brazil of utilizing stolen checks to purchase clothes, and that he had as soon as been charged in Pennsylvania with utilizing dangerous checks to purchase puppies from canine breeders.

The revelations led to congressional and prison inquiries into how he had funded his marketing campaign.

“He told lie after lie until it caught up with him — until we caught up with him and exposed him for what he truly was: an opportunist and a fraud,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, a Republican, mentioned exterior court docket Friday. Her workplace additionally investigated Santos.

Before profitable workplace, Santos collected unemployment advantages from New York state whereas really working for a Florida firm. Once in Congress, he cosponsored laws supposed to root out unemployment fraud.

As his sentencing approached, Santos was reflective and apologetic in social media posts, however at different occasions appeared to relish his notoriety.

He launched a podcast referred to as “Pants on Fire with George Santos,” and earned lots of of hundreds of {dollars} promoting cheerful, customized video messages on Cameo.

He additionally leaned into his longtime assist of President Donald Trump, praising the brand new administration whereas additionally saying that he wouldn’t take into account asking for clemency.

As his sentencing approached, Santos made one closing plug for his Cameo account.

“Think ahead and of any celebration or event coming up later this year. Book them today,” Santos wrote, ending the publish with a collection of coronary heart emojis.

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this story.