Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn released an updated indictment of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), adding 10 new federal charges and bringing the total counts to 23. Prosecutors said Santos stole people’s identities, made charges on his donors’ credit cards without their authorization and submitted false campaign reports that listed non-existent loans and contributions that were fabricated or stolen, reports Politico. Santos was originally indicted in May, when he pleaded not guilty to 13 charges. The new charges in the superseding indictment include one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, two counts of falsifying records to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud.
Last month, prosecutors disclosed that Santos has been in plea talks. Meanwhile, prosecutors have been escalating pressure on Santos by targeting his associates. In August, they indicted a former campaign aide for allegedly impersonating a House leadership aide while soliciting contributions for Santos’ campaign. Last week, former Santos campaign treasurer Nancy Marks pleaded guilty to fraudulently reporting a nonexistent loan that Santos had claimed to have made to his campaign. That guilty plea appears to have prompted the updated indictment, which describes a scheme in which Santos and Marks conspired to show falsely that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter to qualify for a program run by the Republican National Committee that would provide financial and logistical support. Santos, who is running for reelection, has said he doesn’t plan to resign from the House and intends to continue his campaign. “I’m going to fight the witch hunt,” he said.
Comments