Congress’ most prolific liar was taken into custody Wednesday morning
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George Santos Arrested on Wire Fraud, Money Laundering Charges
Congress’ most prolific liar was taken into custody Wednesday morning
BY
NIKKI MCCANN RAMIREZ
MAY 10, 2023
Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) outside New York's courthouse on April 4, 2023 in New York City. DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
REP.
GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.)
may think his lies don’t matter to voters. The
Department of Justice thinks feels otherwise. The Long Island congressman was arrested on Wednesday morning and charged with 13 criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and lying to
Congress.
The 20-page indictment, unsealed Wednesday morning, lays out seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to Congress.
Santos turned himself in in Melville, on Long Island, before being transported to the courthouse in Central Islip. He is expected to appear in federal court in the Eastern District of New York later on Wednesday, with a hearing on the case scheduled to take place on Thursday. It’s unclear whether he will offer a plea this week or at a later date.
The charges stem from a scheme in which Santos and an unidentified man allegedly solicited political donations, only for Santos to use them for personal expenses including luxury goods; a scheme in which Santos allegedly applied for Covid-19 assistance in New York even though he was employed and making six figures in Florida; and from allegedly lying to Congress about his financial status in 2020 and 2022.
CNN was the
first to report on Tuesday that Santos would be charged federally.
The federal charges only cover a fraction of Santos’ problematic conduct. Alongside the many fabrications Santos has made about his personal life and career, multiple people have alleged that Santos’ prolific scamming included
credit card fraud,
donation theft, and potential
campaign finance violations.
In December of last year, federal investigators in the Eastern District of New York indicated they had
initiated an investigation centered around Santos’ campaign finances. “The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” Long Island’s Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican, said at the time.