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UPDATED with sentencing: George Santos, the previous New York GOP congressman who pleaded responsible final summer time to a large number of federal fees after being expelled from the House of Representatives, was sentenced Friday to 87 months in federal jail.
The sentence was handed down at this time inside a Long Island, NY, courthouse, the place the Associated Press stated he supplied his “deepest apologies” earlier than U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert handed down the sentence after his conviction on counts together with wire fraud, cash laundering, theft of public funds and mendacity on House of Representatives disclosure varieties.
According to the AP, Santos broke down in tears after the sentence was learn out, with Seybert asking him, “Where is your remorse? Where do I see it?”
As a part of a plea deal, the AP stated, Santos pays about $580,000 in penalties along with the jail time.
Santos was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022, however his tenure was fraught with ethics scandals amid myriad truth-stretching that caught the general public eye — in addition to that of late-night TV hosts. Early on, studies surfaced that he lied about key particulars on his résumé, and Santos admitted to falsehoods about his background.
He finally admitted to conning donors and stealing the identities of quite a few folks together with members of the family to fund his marketing campaign. He turned solely the sixth consultant ever to be expelled from Congress in December 2023.
PREVIOUSY, August 24, 2024: Former GOP Rep. George Santos pleaded responsible to a number of federal fees at this time and faces a minimal of two years in jail, with a sentencing listening to set for February. The counts included wire fraud, cash laundering, theft of public funds and mendacity on House of Representatives disclosure varieties.
After telling the court docket that he accepts full accountability, the disgraced former lawmaker from New York informed reporters exterior the courthouse that he “allowed ambition to cloud my judgment.” “Pleading guilty is a step I never imagined I’d take, but it’s the right thing to do,” Santo added. “It is my own recognition of the lies I told myself.”
Also at this time, a choose dismissed Santos’ fraud and copyright infringement lawsuit over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s admitted punking and pranking of Santos through customized movie star messaging website Cameo. See particulars of that case beneath, and browse the dismissal doc right here.
Santos was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022, and his tenure within the Legislature was fraught with ethics scandals amid myriad truth-stretching. Early on, studies surfaced that he lied about key particulars on his résumé, and Santos admitted to falsehoods about his background. He stepped down from his committee assignments lower than a month after being sworn in.
He initially known as the 13-count federal indictment in opposition to him in May 2023 “a “witch hunt” and informed reporters that “this is the beginning of the ability for me to address and defend myself.” But Santos surrendered to authorities quickly afterward. A House ethics fee stated in November that he “blatantly stole from his marketing campaign” and “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.” Other alleged violations included donor funds being spent on racy subscription web site OnlyFans and Botox remedies.
After refusing calls to resign — some from his personal Republican Party — in early December, he turned solely the sixth consultant ever to be expelled from Congress. He then went out with social media weapons blazing, saying the subsequent day that he would make ethics complaints in opposition to Republican representatives Nicole Malliotakis for alleged questionable inventory buying and selling and Mike Lawler for marketing campaign finance violations. He additionally known as out Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez, saying the son of now-convicted Sen. Bob Menendez must be investigated.
Less than three weeks after taking workplace, he gave a non-denial denial a couple of viral photograph that confirmed him in drag in Brazil — a narrative Saturday Night Live used for its chilly open that weekend.
Since then, the person who as soon as claimed he was a producer on the ill-fated Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, has danced with the showbiz business. HBO Films optioned the rights to a e book about Santos for a film to be developed by Veep EP Frank Rich — a challenge the previous pol stated was “not ever going to happen.” Santos additionally was interviewed at size for a deliberate documentary about him.
Several TV hosts have had a area day with Santos — from John Oliver and Andy Cohen to Ziwe and naturally Kimmel, who known as the ex-lawmaker’s lawsuit filed in February “the most preposterous of all time.” Filed in mid-February in New York, the lawsuit alleged: “At the heart of this dispute lies the deliberate deception and wrongful appropriation of the Plaintiff’s digital content by the Defendants, orchestrated through the platform Cameo.com, where celebrities and public figures are meant to connect with their fans through personalized video messages.”
The go well with, which additionally named Disney and ABC as defendants, sought at the very least $750,000 in damages.