Prosecutors keep indicted Rep. George Santos busy with 80,000-page discovery batch

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (CN) — U.S. Representative George Santos will spend his summer break reviewing the government’s evidence in the federal fraud case against him, his attorney said Friday during a court appearance that lasted all of five minutes.

“Congress is going to be out of session the whole month of August, which is wonderful timing,” said attorney Joseph Murray, after prosecutors told the judge they had delivered an 80,000-page batch of discovery documents this week.

With U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert entering the courtroom at 11:55 a.m., the conference scheduled for noon was wrapping up by the time it was supposed to begin. Santos and Murray left the courthouse without comment. He is set to appear again in September, the week before Congress is back in session.

Santos, the rookie Republican congressman known for a slew of lies and misleading claims about his work and personal background, is accused of embezzling money from his supporters in the lead-up to the 2020 election, directing an unnamed political consultant to tell donors they were funding television campaign ads and other efforts to get Santos elected. According to the 13-count indictment, in reality the money was spent on designer clothing and used to pay off personal debts and withdraw cash.

In addition, the 34-year-old Long Island congressman stands accused of filing multiple false reports about his financial status, thwarting a requirement for congressional candidates to disclose all assets, and stealing $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits during the pandemic by claiming to be out of work from March 2020 through April 2021 when in fact he was earning a $120,000 salary.

A handful of protesters chanted “resign” and “shame” as Santos left the courthouse on Friday. Among them was Rich Osthoff, Navy veteran from New Jersey who has accused Santos of taking $3,000 raised via GoFundMe in 2016, intended to pay for surgery for Osthoff’s now-deceased pit bull, Sapphire.

“You killed my dog!” Osthoff yelled as Santos walked to the brown Ford Bronco waiting outside.

Santos was released on a $500,000 bond package secured by his father Gercino dos Santos and aunt Elma Santos Preven, following his May arraignment and plea of not guilty.

As a candidate Santos falsely claimed to have graduated from Baruch College in New York and lied about working at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He also misrepresented his ancestral and religious background, claiming to be both Jewish and Catholic, and stating that his mother was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks when in fact she died in 2016.

Santos admitted to those flat-out lies but has downplayed other fabrications as a “poor choice of words.” Regarding his religious background he jokingly referred to himself as “Jew-ish,” despite having previously called himself an “American Jew” whose grandparents survived the Holocaust.

Though he stepped down from committee appointments, Santos has refused to yield to bipartisan calls for his resignation, and announced plans to run for office again next year.

Wire fraud, the top count of the indictment against Santos, carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

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