The disgraced former congressman was handed the 87-month sentence on Friday in a New York court by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, who also ordered him to serve two years of supervised release and pay more than $373,000 in restitution, the New York Times‘ Michael Gold reported:
Santos reportedly “covered his face and was sobbing as the sentence was read, and will have to report to federal prison on July 25, three months from his sentencing date:
Prosecutors wrote a fiery sentencing memorandum, asking Seybert to slap him with the hefty sentence.
“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,” the sentencing memorandum, obtained by NBC News, reads.
Despite Santos having entered a guilty plea on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said he is a “pathological liar” who has not shown true remorse for his crimes.
The former Republican representative was ousted from Congress in a 311-114 vote after less than a year in office, making him the first House expulsion since 2002. The final vote came after a brutal report from the House Ethics Committee that included evidence that he knowingly filed false reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), used campaign funds on personal purchases like OnlyFans subscriptions and Botox treatments, and willfully violated ethics laws as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House.
WATCH — 105 Republicans Vote with Democrats to Expel George Santos Without a Conviction:
When he pleaded guilty in August 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Santos admitted to having taken part in several crimes, including faked FEC reports, embezzling money from campaign donors, using credit cards without having authorization, and fraudulently obtaining “unemployment benefits.”
Santos’s guilty plea was a way to avoid going to trial on the 23 charges he was previously facing, Breitbart News reported.
In his sentencing, prosecutors noted Santos’s new podcast titled “Pants on Fire with George Santos,” calling it “a perfect crystallization of his lack of genuine contrition and his tone-deaf efforts to continue turning lies into dollars.”
“It is abundantly clear that, without a substantial deterrent, Santos will continue to deceive and defraud for years to come,” prosecutors said, according to NBC. “That is especially true given Santos’s craven efforts to leverage his lawbreaking as a springboard to celebrity and riches.”
Santos has already stated that he wants a pardon from President Donald Trump on his podcast but indicated to NY1 this week that he has not reached out to him.
“If he feels like I’m worthy of a commutation or of clemency or whatever the case is, he can make that decision,” the ex-lawmaker said, adding that he believes “the president is aware of my situation.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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