Former New York Republican congressman George Santos has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison and must report on July 25. During his 2022 campaign, he was found guilty of crimes such as embezzlement, identity theft, and fraud.
During his campaign, people soon started questioning the elaborate stories Santos would tell about himself. It turned out that much of what he said about his background wasn’t true.
He had previously claimed that his maternal grandparents were Jewish and had fled the Holocaust. His grandparents were Catholic Brazilians.
He had also claimed that four of his company employees died at the Pulse nightclub mass shooting. None of the shooting’s victims were his employees.
Santos claimed that his mother was working at the World Trade Center when she died from the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, it was found that she wasn’t in the U.S. in 2001 and passed away in 2016.
The charges against Santos involved stealing money and using it for personal spending. He was accused of taking donations that were supposed to go toward his campaign and instead using them to buy luxury goods, Botox, and OnlyFans content. In court, prosecutors said he created fake fundraisers and tricked people into sending him money, which he then spent on things like clothes and credit card bills. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in August 2024.
Santos’ defense requested the minimum sentencing of two years since he had pleaded guilty and stated that he felt remorse for the victims. However, in the days after that, he went on several social media platforms to try to argue against his guilt.
Seeing this, prosecutors doubted Santos’ sorrow, claiming that this post signaled victimhood, blaming others instead of himself. They argued that Santos should be given maximum sentencing so he could be held accountable.
As part of his sentencing, Santos is required to pay $373,749.97 in restitution, forfeit $205,002.97, and serve 87 months in prison. Afterward, he would be put on two years of supervised probation.
Instagram user @canna_nana says, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely glad Santos is going away for seven years, but what about the rest of the Republicans in Congress?”
After the sentence was announced, Santos blamed the media and politicians for the way he was treated. He also posted on social media, saying he believed the justice system had been unfair to him.
Santos has also expressed that he is hoping for a pardon from President Donald Trump. Previously, Trump had pardoned Michele Flore, a politician who embezzled funds from a murdered police officer to pay for her plastic surgery.
Instagram user @vae_victis1 says, “Trump will pardon him like he did for that Nevada politician who stole money given to honor a fallen police officer and used it for cosmetic surgery.”
