George Santos surrenders to federal authorities
U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has surrendered to federal authorities and will face 13 charges including money laundering, wire fraud, and lying to Congress.
The New York Times Wednesday morning reports that Santos “was charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.”
“The indictment was returned yesterday under seal by a federal grand jury sitting in Central Islip, New York,” a just-released statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern New York reads. “Santos was arrested this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlene R. Lindsay at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.”
“This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” United States Attorney Breon Peace added. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself. He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives. My Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively root out corruption and self-dealing from our community’s public institutions and hold public officials accountable to the constituents who elected them.”
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who earlier this year promised to stand by Rep. Santos unless he was charged with a crime, has now altered his position, saying on Tuesday, “In America, you are innocent until proven guilty,” while adding, “I’ll look at the charges.”
