Congressman George Santos Facing New Criminal Charges

by Patrick Wilson

Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

New York Congressman George Santos is facing 10 new federal charges, including allegations of stealing donors’ identities, running up fraudulent credit card charges, and lying to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The new charges were filed in a superseding indictment on Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Santos was previously indicted in March 2023 on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, and one count of theft of public funds.

According to the new indictment, Santos is accused of using the identities of campaign donors to open credit card accounts and then using those cards to make unauthorized charges. He is also accused of lying to the FEC about his campaign finances.

“As alleged, Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement. “If convicted, Santos faces up to 20 years in prison.”

Santos has denied all wrongdoing. He has called the charges against him a “witch hunt” and has said that he is confident that he will be cleared of all charges.

Santos is a Republican who represents New York’s 3rd congressional district, which includes Nassau and Suffolk counties. He was elected to Congress in 2022.

The new charges against Santos come at a time when he is already facing calls to resign from Congress. Several Republican lawmakers have said that they believe Santos should step down, and there is a growing movement within the Republican Party to expel him from Congress.

It is unclear what the future holds for Santos. He has said that he has no plans to resign from Congress, and he is scheduled to go on trial on the original charges against him in November 2023. However, if he is convicted on the new charges, he could face a significant prison sentence.

** This piece was created with the help of ai.