Ex-Congressman George Santos Faces Nearly 7 Years Behind Bars After Fraud Conviction

Former New York congressman George Santos could be looking at almost seven years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of federal fraud and identity theft charges. Santos, 36, is set for sentencing this Friday, capping off a political saga that’s honestly felt more like a Netflix series than real life.

Santos’ brief stint in Congress came to a screeching halt in 2023, thanks to his colleagues showing him the door before he’d even been convicted of a crime. At the time, he was staring down a whopping 23-count indictment, with charges ranging from wire fraud and identity theft to falsification of records and credit card fraud. I mean, the only thing missing here is a secret lair.

In August, Santos pleaded guilty, admitting he had tricked donors and stolen the identities of nearly a dozen people to bankroll his campaign. He agreed to pay close to $600,000 in penalties. With the federal government pushing for an 87-month sentence, while his own lawyers say two years is plenty, you can practically hear the legal drama music swelling.

Before his sentencing, Santos said he was coping as well as anyone in his shoes, and added, "I will be in court tomorrow, ready to face the music." The government, however, isn’t buying the redemption arc, submitting his recent social media posts as evidence of his ongoing lack of remorse. One tweet, for example, declared, "No matter how hard the DOJ comes for me, they are mad because they will NEVER break my spirit." Not exactly the humble pie the court was hoping for.

Santos shot back in a letter to the court, apologizing for his crimes but arguing that the government’s sentence request—and their use of his outspoken posts against him—was both excessive and a violation of his right to speak out. He wrote, "True remorse isn’t mute; it is aware of itself, and it speaks up when the penalty scale jumps into the absurd." Talk about trying to turn the sentencing into a TED Talk.

Santos’ time in Congress began after he flipped a district that covers parts of Queens and Long Island in 2022. But his campaign itself was built on a foundation of questionable claims, like having attended NYU, worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and even that his grandparents escaped the Nazis. Turns out, fact-checkers had a field day with that résumé.

Even after his ouster, Santos made a brief attempt at a political comeback as an Independent in a neighboring district, but that fizzled out quickly. Maybe the next chapter is a tell-all book. Or a cameo video—he’s already offered those, complete with a drag queen alter ego. Only in America, right?