Ex-NY Rep. George Santos should face more than 7 years in prison, federal prosecutors say

Prosecutors recommended an 87-month prison sentence for the former congressmember on Friday.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of more than seven years for former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who last year pleaded guilty to more than a dozen federal charges, including wire fraud, identity theft and stealing campaign funds.

In a court filing from the Eastern District of New York on Friday, prosecutors recommended an 87-month prison sentence — or seven years and three months — partly as a way to “protect the public from being defrauded by Santos again.”

“Santos’ conduct has made a mockery of our election system,” prosecutors wrote. “From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’ unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives.”

Santos, who once represented parts of Long Island and Queens, has faced multiple investigations into his conduct. He was formally expelled from Congress in late 2023 after a House ethics committee found “substantial evidence” of misconduct and illegal activity. His sentencing is scheduled for April 25.

Santos declined to comment when contacted by a Gothamist reporter on Saturday. However, the former congressmember inveighed against prosecutors in a social media post earlier that day.

“The DOJ wants me to go to prison for 87 months while they let sex traffickers walk freely, they give drug lords slaps on the wrist and most importantly refuse to prosecute the cabal of pedophiles running around in every power structure in the world including the US Government,” Santos wrote on X.

In the 26-page court filing, prosecutors also argued that the lengthy sentence would also “promote respect for the law and provide just punishment,” and that it would be a “substantial deterrent” to stop Santos from engaging in these acts again.

“Santos’s dishonesty and base self-preservation know no bounds. It is abundantly clear that, without a substantial deterrent, Santos will continue to deceive and defraud for years to come,” the filing reads.

Santos’ lawyers filed their own sentencing memo on Friday, arguing instead for a two-year prison sentence, the Associated Press reported.