By Former U.S. Representative George Santos was sentenced Friday to 87 months in federal prison, bringing a dramatic conclusion to the once-promising political career of the Long Island Republican. Santos, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, was also ordered to pay nearly $374,000 in restitution to his victims.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, who presided over the case, questioned Santos’ sincerity during sentencing, pointedly asking, “Where is the remorse?” even as Santos delivered a tearful plea for leniency. “I don’t relish sending people to jail,” Seybert said, “but Mr. Santos is fully deserving of this sentence.” Santos, 36, must report to prison by July 25, wrote NBC News.
Federal prosecutors had pressed for a severe penalty, casting Santos as a “pathological liar” who exploited the political system for personal enrichment. In their sentencing memorandum, they described a sustained pattern of deceit: fabricating his biography, orchestrating fraudulent fundraising schemes, and attempting to profit from his own notoriety by launching a podcast, Pants on Fire with George Santos. “Without significant consequences,” they warned, “Santos will continue to deceive and defraud.”
Defense attorneys urged a lighter sentence, arguing that Santos’ misconduct was driven by desperation rather than malice, and that the public disgrace he endured would serve as a warning to others. Yet the portrait that emerged over the course of the proceedings—of a man willing to bend, invent, and betray at every turn—proved difficult to rebut.
Santos’ rise had once been heralded as a Republican breakthrough in a traditionally Democratic district. Elected to Congress in 2022, he quickly attracted national attention—not for legislative achievements, but for revelations that he had fabricated key aspects of his personal and professional history. Among the many falsehoods: claims of Jewish heritage, embellished academic credentials, and an invented Wall Street résumé.
The criminal charges that followed were sweeping. Prosecutors alleged that Santos stole from elderly donors, siphoned campaign funds for personal luxuries, and committed identity theft. The final blow came in December 2023, when the House of Representatives expelled him following a blistering Ethics Committee report detailing his misuse of campaign donations, including for designer purchases and a subscription to the adult-content platform OnlyFans.
He was the first Republican ever to be expelled from Congress.
In the months after his ouster, Santos sought to reinvent himself. He promoted personalized video messages on Cameo and collaborated with documentary filmmakers, insisting he had moved on from politics. Yet prosecutors pointed out that he continued to misrepresent his financial situation and had failed to make any court-ordered payments toward restitution.
At various moments, Santos floated the idea of seeking a pardon from former President Donald Trump, though no formal clemency request was ever submitted.
Speaking outside the courthouse after the sentencing, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham declared, “Today’s sentence is justice. George Santos has finally been held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated.”
The sentence brings a definitive close to one of the most brazen and scandal-laden chapters in recent American political history—a rise fueled by fabrication, and a fall that was, ultimately, self-inflicted.
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