New York Representative George Santos has turned himself in and is now facing a 13-count indictment. This morning around 9 a.m. (ET), he turned himself in at a federal court in Central Islip in Long Island.
In the 20-page indictment, George Anthony Devolder Santos is accused of devising and executing “a scheme to defraud supporters of his candidacy for the House…” The document goes on to say he then spent “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”
Santos’ Indictment
The 13 counts they have indicted Santos on are:
- Seven counts of wire fraud.
- Three counts of money laundering.
- One count of theft of public funds.
- Two counts of making materially false statements to the House.
They took the New York Republican to the Melville FBI office on Long Island, according to CNN. From there, they took him to the federal courthouse in Central Islip. He avoided the swarm of media out front of the courthouse and entered through the back door. The representative is due to appear in court later today to be arraigned.
Previous Accusations
Last night Santos skipped House votes for the evening and went back to New York. Earlier in the day, he was seen around the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy’s office. The speaker stated he was unsure why the representative had been there. McCarthy added he had not informed Santos about the pending charges.
During Santos’ brief time in office, they had accused him of lying about where he attended school and worked. It also accused the New York Representative of:
- Stealing funds meant for an Iraq War veteran’s dying canine.
- Masterminding a credit card fraud scheme.
- Breaking campaign finance laws.
- And violating federal conflict of interest laws.
Since these accusations came about, many lawmakers and citizens have called for Santos to be stripped of his title. Now that they have indicted him, many feel it definitely should happen.
McCarthy’s Views
However, McCarthy stated his policy is that any Congress member found guilty of charges should resign. He then referenced Grand Old Party (GOP) Representative Jeff Fortenberry. He resigned after he was convicted of concealing data and making false statements to federal authorities in connection with a probe into illegal campaign contributions.
“Just like we had before with Jeff Fortenberry, he had the same ability, I removed him from committees, but he was found guilty and then I told him he needed to resign. That is my policies and principles on this,” stated House Speaker McCarthy.
By Sheena Robertson
Sources:
CBS: Rep. George Santos charged with using campaign donations for personal expenses, including designer clothes and cash
CNN: Santos in federal custody as feds unseal 13-count indictment
CBS New York SCRIBD: George Santos indictment
Top and Featured Image by Americasroof Courtesy of Wikimedia – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)‘s Flickr Page – Public Domain License
