Congressman George Santos hit with new conspiracy, wire fraud charges

BROOKLYN (CN) — Representative George Santos was hit with 10 new criminal counts Tuesday over accusations he inflated his campaign’s fundraising numbers and charged campaign contributors’ credit cards without their consent.

The 23-count superseding indictment accuses the congressman of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and theft of public funds, among others.

“Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of the campaign,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement. “Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with nonexistent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen.”

Santos, along with former campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, devised and executed at least three fraudulent schemes to obtain money for himself and his campaign, prosecutors say.

To qualify for a program administered by the Federal Election Commission, a national party committee, Santos and Marks falsely reported contributions to demonstrate their campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter.

According to the indictment, the pair agreed to falsely report that at least 10 family members had made significant financial contributions to the campaign. They also falsely reported that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, including one loan of $500,000. Prosecutors say Santos had less than $8,000 dollars in his personal and business bank accounts at the time.

Prosecutors also accuse Santos of charging contributors’ credit cards repeatedly, without their consent, once he received their information from previous contributions. To conceal the true source of these funds, prosecutors say Santos falsely represented that some of his contributions were made by other people such as relatives and associates.

Additionally, Santos induced supporters to contribute funds for the purpose of supporting his candidacy. Instead, Santos spent thousands of dollars of those funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.

“This office will relentlessly pursue criminal charges against anyone who uses the electoral process as an opportunity to defraud the public and our government institutions,” Peace added.

Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty last week to one felony count of conspiracy and admitted to making false statements, obstructing the administration of the FEC and committing aggravated identity theft.

Santos also applied to receive unemployment insurance benefits in 2020 through the CARES Act, intended to allocate additional unemployment benefits for eligible individuals as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To qualify for the program, Santos falsely claimed to have been unemployed since the week of March 22, 2020, according to the indictment. As a result, he received approximately $24,744 in unemployment insurance benefits.

Santos was initially indicted this past May and charged on 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, stealing public funds and lying on federal disclosure forms. He has pleaded not guilty.

A freshman congressman who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, Santos has faced criticism for fabricating parts of his life story. He has since admitted he “embellished” parts of his resume.

Santos is set to appear in federal court on Oct. 27, where he will likely be arraigned on the new charges against him.

Follow @NikaSchoonover