George Santos, Ex-Congressman, Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison on Fraud Charges

Former Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to 87 months in prison for a series of campaign finance schemes.

Santos pleaded guilty in August to federal fraud charges. According to the Associated Press, Santos sobbed in front of Judge Joanna Seybert before the sentence was pronounced.

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

In their sentencing recommendation, federal prosecutors argued that Santos’ claims of remorse are “hollow” and that a lengthy sentence was needed to send a message and remove him from society.

“Santos’s conduct has made a mockery of our election system,” prosecutors wrote. “From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives.”

Santos, a New York Republican, won a surprise victory in the 2022 election — only to be exposed for a series of lies about his biography. Prosecutors ultimately charged him with numerous campaign finance fraud schemes, including filing false fundraising statements and using donors’ credit card numbers to make fraudulent charges.

He was expelled from Congress in December 2023, less than a year after being sworn in.

Santos’ defense attorneys argued that he should be given a lower sentence of 24 months, arguing that he had shown remorse and taken responsibility for his actions. They also cited a history of mental health issues, including depression and suicidal thoughts, in seeking leniency.

Shortly after his expulsion from Congress, Santos appeared on Cameo, where he offered to sell videos of himself making personal greetings. He sued Jimmy Kimmel, after the TV host aired videos his staff had commissioned to test whether Santos would say absurd remarks. A judge later threw out the lawsuit, finding that Kimmel’s conduct was protected political commentary.

On Thursday, Santos said on X that he had disabled the ability to make new Cameo requests, “as I am unsure if I will be able to fulfill them in recent days.”