Santos campaign fundraiser sentenced to one year for impersonating congressional aide, stealing funds

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CN) — Former U.S. Representative George Santos’ campaign fundraiser Samuel Miele was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on Friday for his role in the congressman’s scheme to inflate campaign fundraising numbers and redirect donor contributions for his personal benefit.

The sentence comes over a year after Miele pleaded guilty to wire fraud and admitted to impersonating a congressional aide to pick up donations for Santos, who pleaded guilty to his own charges in August 2024.

“It’s an extremely serious case,” U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert said in the Long Island courtroom.

From August to December 2021, Miele admitted to soliciting campaign contributions by impersonating Dan Meyer, chief of staff to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in emails and phone conversations with potential contributors. In doing so, he received donations from over a dozen contributors and received a 15% commission from each one.

He also admitted to committing access device fraud, in which he charged donors’ credit cards without their authorization, enriching himself and the campaign in the process. According to prosecutors, this amounted to over $100,000 in losses for at least seven individuals.

Miele emphasized his remorse during the sentencing hearing and apologized for the “pain and embarrassment” he caused his loved ones, including his parents who were in attendance.

“My parents raised me to do the right thing,” Miele said. “I did not do that here.”

Miele was ordered to pay $109,171 in restitution and $69,136 in forfeiture when he pleaded guilty, which he has already paid in full.

According to his attorney, Kevin Marino, that shows his willingness to make amends for his actions.

“It’s not common that a person who commits a criminal offense is so remorseful,” Marino said.

Judge Seybert seemed to agree and repeatedly pointed out how “unusual” it was to have restitution and forfeiture paid in full at the sentencing date.

Marino further pressed that Miele’s conduct was simply the result of an impressionable 25-year-old influenced by a corrupt politician.

While he said Miele’s conduct wasn’t Santos’ fault, Marino described the now-28-year-old as a “young ingenue led astray by an older role model” prominently featured in the public eye.

“His name is now a household name,” Marino said of Miele. “Forever linked to the name of a disgraced congressman.”

But while prosecutors agreed Miele has sufficiently cooperated with the government following his guilty plea, they said that some level of prison time is necessary to show the justice system takes these cases seriously.

“This isn’t a simple credit card fraud,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Zuckerwise said. “It involves a lot more. It involves the trust in our system.”

She added that Miele’s conduct was “serious and prolonged” over the course of a year in his role as Santos’ campaign fundraiser.

While Seybert agreed, she decided to give Miele the minimum sentence she could grant to ensure he gets placed somewhere other than Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, which has increasingly been scrutinized for its “horrid” and dangerous conditions.

“I know this is a heartache for your parents,” Seybert said. “You’ll get your life together, I know you will.”

After the hearing, Marino said they believed the judge’s sentence was fair and appropriate.

“We think the judge was fair. This is what happens when you associate with the wrong people,” Marino said. “Mr. Miele has learned a valuable lesson.”

Miele and his parents declined to comment. The government declined to comment as well.

Miele is the first to be sentenced in this case. Santos’ former campaign treasurer Nancy Marks pleaded guilty in October 2023 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and admitted to making false statements, obstructing the administration of the Federal Election Commission, and committing aggravated identity theft.

Her sentence is scheduled for May 8, 2025, and Santos is expected to be sentenced on April 25, 2025.

Miele is scheduled to surrender on July 11, 2025.

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