Former New York Republican representative George Santos pleaded guilty to two charges related to campaign fraud on Monday.
Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identify theft during a pretrial conference in the Eastern District of New York. He could face six to eight years in prison at his sentencing on February 7 next year.
He will also have to pay at least $373,749 in restitution.
Santos was originally charged with 23 counts, including theft of public funds and conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States.
The former lawmaker was first elected in 2022. He represented the Third Congressional District of New York, which includes parts of Queens and Nassau County.
AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives in 2023 in a 311 to 114 vote after the charges were filed against him and the House Ethics Committee concluded its investigation into his alleged fraud.
Prosecutors alleged Santos incorrectly allocated campaign funds, misrepresented personal finances on House disclosure forms and illegally abused COVID-19 unemployment benefits.
Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 charges in May, and ten more in October.
He was replaced by Democratic Representative Tom Suozzi, who also held the seat before Santos, in a special election.
Santos has also been accused of falsifying several aspects of his upbringing, professional career and personal life. Both the high school and college he claimed to attend had no records of his attendance. Companies he claimed to work for had no records of his employment as well.
A Brazilian drag queen posted a photo of her and another person, who she claimed was Santos, in drag in January of last year. He called the claims “categorically false” and “outrageous.”
He later appeared to admit to dressing in drag.
“No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,” Santos told reporters at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
He announced he would run for his former seat in the House as an independent in March but dropped out of the race the next month. He claimed he did not want to “be responsible for handing the House to Dems,” since he would likely split the Republican vote with incumbent First District New York Representative Nick LaLota. Suozzi is also running to defend the seat.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com