CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) 鈥� George Santos, the former New York congressman who spun lies into a brief political career, pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, acknowledging that he allowed his ambitions to cloud his judgment.
Santos, 36, is likely to spend at least six years in prison and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution. His federal fraud case, which led to his expulsion from Congress, was just weeks away from going to trial.
鈥淚 betrayed the trust of my constituents and supporters. I deeply regret my conduct,鈥� the New York Republican said, his voice trembling as he entered the plea in a Long Island courtroom.
Santos, 36, said he accepted responsibility for his crimes and intends to make amends. He faces more than six years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines and owes at least $370,000 in restitution.
Senior Federal Judge Joanna Seybert scheduled sentencing for Feb. 7.
Santos was indicted on felony charges that he stole from political donors, used campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses, lied to Congress about his wealth and collected unemployment benefits while actually working.
Santos was after an ethics investigation found 鈥渙verwhelming evidence鈥� that he had broken the law and exploited his public position for his own profit.
The case in early September. If that had happened, federal prosecutors said Monday that they were prepared to call some 40 witnesses, including members of Santos' campaign, employers and family members.
Santos was once touted as a rising political star after he flipped the suburban district that covers the affluent North Shore of Long Island and a slice of the New York City borough of Queens in 2022.
But his life story began unraveling even before he was sworn into office. At the time, reports emerged that he had lied about having a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree along with other questions swirling about his biography.
New about his campaign funds.
He was first indicted on federal charges in May 2023, but refused to resign from office.
Santos had previously maintained his innocence, though he said in December that a plea deal with prosecutors was 鈥渘ot off the table.鈥�
Asked if he was afraid of going to prison, he told CBS 2 at the time: 鈥淚 think everybody should be afraid of going to jail, it鈥檚 not a pretty place and uh, I definitely want to work very hard to avoid that as best as possible.鈥�
Separately Monday, in Manhattan federal court, Judge Denise Cote tossed out that late-night host , ABC and Disney committed copyright infringement and unjustly enriched themselves at his expense by using videos he made for a 鈥淛immy Kimmel Live鈥� segment. The judge said it was clear that Kimmel used the clips, which were also posted to YouTube, for the purposes of criticism and commentary, which is fair use.
Santos had begun selling personalized videos on Cameo in December shortly after his ouster from Congress. He subsequently launched, , a longshot bid to return to Congress as an independent earlier this year.
In that aired Sunday, Santos said he has taken comfort in being a 鈥渟omewhat private civilian鈥� again.
鈥淚 really don鈥檛 miss the rubber chicken dinners and the rah-rah-rah parties and fundraisers," he said of his former life.
With his criminal trial looming, he had said in the WABC interview that he was 鈥渢errified.鈥�
鈥淭his is not absolutely an easy process to go through. It really hurts and it really messes with your psychological health,鈥� he told host Cindy Adams.
As the trial date neared in recent weeks, Santos to have a partially anonymous jury, with his lawyers arguing in court papers that "the mere risk of public ridicule could influence the individual jurors ability to decide Santos鈥� case solely on the facts and law as presented in Court.鈥�
He also wanted potential jurors to fill out a written questionnaire gauging their opinions of him. His lawyers argued the survey was needed because 鈥渇or all intents and purposes, Santos has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion.鈥�
Judge Joanna Seybert agreed to keep jurors鈥� identities public but said no to the questionnaire.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, had been seeking to admit as evidence some of the financial falsehoods Santos told during his campaign, including that he鈥檇 worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and that he had operated a family-run firm with approximately $80 million in assets,
Two Santos campaign aides previously pleaded guilty to crimes related to the former congressman鈥檚 campaign.
His ex-treasurer, Nancy Marks, in October to a fraud conspiracy charge, implicating Santos in an alleged scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors. A lawyer for Marks said at the time his client would be willing to testify against Santos if asked.
Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising money for Santos鈥� campaign.
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Associated Press writers Susan Haigh and Larry Neumeister contributed to this report.
Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press
