Disgraced former Republican lawmaker George Santos, who was expelled from the U.S. Congress for using stolen donor money to fund a lavish lifestyle, pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Judge Joanna Seibert ordered Santos to pay more than $370,000 in restitution during a court hearing in Central Islip and set a Feb. 7 sentencing date.
Santos, 36, faces a minimum of two years and a maximum of 22 years in prison.
“After years of lying, Jorge Santos stood right behind me in court and finally told the truth under oath,” U.S. Attorney Brion Peace for the Eastern District of New York told reporters.
“And the truth is, he’s a criminal. He lied, he stole and he cheated people,” Peace said.
Speaking to reporters after his conviction, an emotional Santos apologized to his former voters and said he had “let his ambition cloud his judgment,” which caused him to “make decisions that were unethical.”
“This plea is not just an admission of guilt, it is an acknowledgment that I, like any other American who breaks the law, must be held accountable,” he said through tears.
The Long Island congressman’s downfall came after it was revealed he had lied about nearly his entire background, including his education, religion and work history.
Santos was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2022 and was accused the following year of stealing from campaign donors and engaging in credit card fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.
According to an investigation by the congressional ethics committee, Santos used donors’ money for Botox treatments and the OnlyFans porn website, as well as luxury Italian goods and vacations to the Hamptons and Las Vegas.
He was scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 9 on nearly two dozen charges, but opted instead to plead guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Santos’ bizarre biography included claiming to have worked for Goldman Sachs, to be Jewish, and to have been a college volleyball star.
The eventual congressional investigation found overwhelming evidence of misconduct against him and accused him of “fraudulently exploiting every aspect of his candidacy for the House.”
Santos was expelled from the House last year, making him only the third person to be expelled as a U.S. lawmaker since the Civil War, a punishment previously only given to traitors and convicted criminals.
In February, voters in his suburban New York district elected Democrat Tom Suozzi to replace him.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
