George Anthony Devolder Santos, the United States Representative for the Third District of New York, has been hit with a 23-count superseding indictment. The charges include conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), falsifying records to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud. Santos is also facing charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to the United States House of Representatives. The indictment alleges that Santos engaged in multiple fraudulent schemes, including stealing identities, making unauthorized charges on donors’ credit cards, and lying about his campaign’s financial state.
According to the superseding indictment, Santos and his campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, devised a fraudulent scheme to obtain money for the campaign by submitting false reports to the FEC. They inflated the campaign’s fundraising numbers to deceive the FEC and the public in order to qualify for a program administered by a national party committee, which would provide financial and logistical support. Santos and Marks falsely reported that family members had made significant contributions to the campaign and that Santos had loaned the campaign large sums of money when these claims were untrue. Through this scheme, Santos ensured that his campaign met the necessary financial benchmarks to receive support.
In addition to the Party Program Scheme, Santos is accused of engaging in a Credit Card Fraud Scheme. Between December 2021 and August 2022, Santos allegedly stole the personal identity and financial information of campaign contributors and made unauthorized charges on their credit cards. He then misrepresented the true source of the funds and circumvented campaign contribution limits by falsely attributing the contributions to other individuals. One contributor had his credit card repeatedly charged without his knowledge or authorization, with Santos concealing the true source of the funds by falsely listing the source as himself, relatives, and other contributors. Santos faces significant charges and will appear in federal court in October 2023.
