U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY), indicted on 13 federal felony charges earlier this year, is now facing an additional ten charges including “conspiracy, wire fraud, false statement, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud,” for a total of 23 charges, according to Axios.
The Dept. of Justice also alleges Congressman Santos transferred campaign contributions to his personal bank account.
A U.S. Dept. of Justice statement says a grand jury has indicted Santos on “one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), two counts of falsification of records submitted to the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of access device fraud.”
“Santos was previously charged with an additional 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 the U.S. House of Representatives in the original indictment.”
The DOJ’s Office of Pubic Affairs released details of Santos’ alleged crimes.
“To create the public appearance that his campaign had met that financial benchmark and was otherwise financially viable, Santos and [his Treasurer, Nancy] Marks allegedly agreed to falsely report to the FEC that at least 10 family members of Santos and Marks had made significant financial contributions to the campaign, when Santos and Marks both knew that these individuals had neither made the reported contributions nor given authorization for their personal information to be included in such false public reports.”
“In addition, understanding that the national party committee relied on FEC fundraising data to evaluate candidates’ qualification for the program, Santos and Marks allegedly agreed to falsely report to the FEC that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, including in one instance a $500,000 loan, when, in fact, Santos had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans.”
“Through the execution of this scheme, Santos and Marks ensured that Santos met the necessary financial benchmarks to qualify for the program that the national party committee administered. As a result of qualifying for the program, the congressional campaign received financial support,” DOJ alleges.
In one example of Santos’ alleged criminal actions, DOJ claims a contributor “texted Santos and others to make a contribution to his campaign, providing billing information for two credit cards. In the days after he received the billing information, Santos allegedly used the credit card information to make numerous contributions to his campaign and affiliated political committees in amounts exceeding applicable contribution limits, without the contributor’s knowledge or authorization.”
“To mask the true source of these contributions and thereby circumvent the applicable campaign contribution limits, Santos falsely identified the contributor for one of the charges as one of his relatives. In the following months, Santos allegedly repeatedly charged the contributor’s credit card without the contributor’s knowledge or authorization, attempting to make at least $44,800 in charges and repeatedly concealing the true source of funds by falsely listing the source of funds as Santos himself, his relatives, and other contributors. On one occasion, Santos charged $12,000 to the contributor’s credit card, ultimately transferring the vast majority of that money into Santos’s own personal bank account.”