CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Former Congressman George Anthony Devolder Santos pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in federal court in Central Islip, New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced in a statement on Monday.
The proceedings took place before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, where Santos admitted to multiple fraudulent activities, including filing false reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), embezzling campaign funds, unauthorized use of credit cards, identity theft, and fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits.
Santos faces a potential prison sentence ranging from two to 22 years. Additionally, as part of his plea agreement, he will pay $373,749.97 in restitution and forfeit $205,002.97. The charges against Santos were initially filed in May 2023, with a superseding indictment adding further crimes in October 2023.
“Today, for what may seem like the first time since he started his campaign for Congress, Mr. Santos told the truth about his criminal schemes. He admitted to lying, stealing and conning people,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York. “By pleading guilty, Mr. Santos has acknowledged that he repeatedly defrauded federal and state government institutions as well as his own family, supporters, and constituents. His flagrant and disgraceful conduct has been exposed and will be punished. Mr. Santos’s conviction demonstrates this Office’s enduring commitment to rooting out corruption and grift by public officials.”
Santos’s fraudulent activities extended beyond campaign finance violations. From July 2020 to October 2022, he stole personal and financial information from his campaign contributors, using it to make unauthorized charges on their credit cards. He also operated a fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme, falsely claiming that donations would fund campaign activities while diverting the money for personal expenses.
Additionally, Santos admitted to collecting over $24,000 in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite being employed and ineligible for the assistance. He further lied on financial disclosure forms required for his congressional campaign, vastly overstating his income and assets.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said the charges to which Santos pleaded guilty are connected to the following criminal schemes detailed in the superseding indictment:
The Party Program Scheme
During the 2022 election cycle, while running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s Third Congressional District, Santos and his campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to secure financial support for the campaign. To accomplish this, they submitted false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), inflating the campaign’s fundraising figures to mislead the FEC, a national party committee, and the public. The scheme aimed to qualify the campaign for a national party committee program that provided financial and logistical support.
To qualify, Santos needed to demonstrate that his campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors within a single quarter. To create this illusion, Santos and Marks falsely reported that 11 of Santos’s family members had made substantial contributions to the campaign, despite knowing that these individuals had neither donated nor authorized the use of their personal information. Additionally, they falsely claimed that Santos had loaned significant sums of money to his campaign, including a fabricated $500,000 loan, even though Santos had less than $8,000 in his accounts at the time. By falsely inflating the campaign’s financial status, Santos and Marks secured vital support from the national party committee.
The Credit Card Fraud Scheme
From approximately July 2020 to October 2022, Santos engaged in a scheme to steal personal and financial information from campaign contributors. He used this stolen information to repeatedly charge contributors’ credit cards without their authorization. The funds from these unauthorized transactions were funneled into Santos’s campaign, other political campaigns, and his personal bank account. To hide the true source of these funds and to circumvent campaign contribution limits, Santos falsely reported that the contributions were made by other individuals, including his relatives and associates, without their consent.
Fraudulent Political Contribution Solicitation Scheme
During his successful 2022 congressional campaign, Santos operated a limited liability company (LLC) to deceive potential political supporters. With the help of a Queens-based political consultant, Santos solicited donations under false pretenses, telling donors that their contributions would be used for campaign expenses, such as television advertisements. However, once the funds were deposited into the LLC’s bank account, Santos laundered the money through his personal accounts and used it for personal expenses, including designer clothing, cash withdrawals, and paying off debts.
Unemployment Insurance Fraud Scheme
Starting in February 2020, while employed as a Regional Director at a Florida-based investment firm, Santos fraudulently collected unemployment benefits. Despite being gainfully employed, he falsely claimed to be unemployed and continued to affirm his eligibility for unemployment benefits weekly, receiving more than $24,000 in benefits from June 2020 to April 2021.
False Statements to the House of Representatives
In September 2022, during his second campaign for the House of Representatives, Santos filed a financial disclosure statement with the Clerk of the U.S. House, as required by law. In this statement, Santos grossly overstated his income and assets, falsely claiming he had earned $750,000 in salary and received up to $5 million in dividends from his company, Devolder Organization LLC. He also falsely reported significant balances in checking and savings accounts that did not exist. Additionally, Santos failed to disclose income he received from his previous employment and the unemployment benefits he fraudulently collected.
The prosecution of this case involved multiple agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the FBI, and the IRS-CI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Harris, Anthony Bagnuola, and Laura Zuckerwise, along with other legal professionals, played key roles in bringing Santos to justice. The case underscores the federal government’s commitment to holding public officials accountable for corruption and fraud.
