What a difference a year and a handful of months can make.
In May 2023, expelled former New York GOP Congressman George "Anthony Devolder Zabrovsky Kitara Ravache Jingleheimer Schmidt" Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges that included wire fraud, theft of public funds, money laundering, and making false statements to the House of Representatives about his wealth.
Santos also collected unemployment benefits while actually working and used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses such as designer clothing.
At the time, Santos was ordered to pay a $5,000 cash bond and had to adhere to a court hearing schedule before his trial on Long Island next month.
Now, Santos will plead guilty on Monday to several of the charges, the AP reported on Saturday.
This saves the state a whole lot of time and money, as jury selection was set to begin on September 9th. This may be one time Santos can be credited with saving anyone money other than himself.
Two former Santos aides have already pleaded guilty to crimes related to the former congressman’s campaign. Last October, his ex-treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated Santos in a scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors, saying she had been “mentally seduced” by Santos.
Ew.
A month after that, Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising campaign cash for Santos.
While awaiting sentencing, Santos has been grifting people on the social media app Cameo, charging thousands of dollars for personal messages.