Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison on Friday in connection with his wire fraud and identity theft charges.
The 36-year-old former representative was in Congress for nearly a year before being ousted in 2023 by his House colleagues. Santos had not yet been convicted of a crime, but he had been charged with 23 counts including wire fraud, identity theft, record falsification, credit card fraud, and other offenses.
Santos sobbed as he was sentenced, according to the Associated Press.
During Santos’ sentencing, US District Court Judge Joanna Seybert asked him, “Where is your remorse? “Where can I see it?”
She went on to say that he appears to believe that “it’s always someone else’s fault,” according to the outlet.
A source told Fox News that Santos is expected to arrive at prison by July 26th.
“Today, George Santos was finally held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated,” John Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “For the defendant, it was judgment day, and for his many victims including campaign donors, political parties, government agencies, elected bodies, his own family members, and his constituents, it is justice.”
Santos pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges in August as part of a plea agreement. He admitted to defrauding donors and stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people to fund his campaign. He also agreed to pay approximately $600,000 in penalties.
According to court documents, federal prosecutors sought an 87-month prison sentence. Santos’ legal team had requested a two-year sentence in a court filing earlier this month.
“I’m doing as well as any human being would do given the circumstances,” Santos told the Associated Press on Thursday, prior to his sentencing. “I will be in court tomorrow, ready to face the music.”
In an April 17 filing, the government submitted a list of Santos’ recent social media posts ahead of his sentencing, arguing that “Santos’s recent behavior continues to demonstrate that he remains unrepentant for his crimes.”
The posts, taken from his X account, included tweets that read, “No matter how hard the DOJ comes for me, they are mad because they will NEVER break my spirit.”
Santos responded to the filing in a letter to the court filed on April 21, writing that he was “profoundly sorry for the criminal conduct” to which he had pleaded guilty, and that he believes “that the Department of Justice’s demand for an 87-month sentence, and its effort to weaponize my speech as proof of incorrigibility, is an overreach that I have both a constitutional right and a civic duty to protest.”
“True remorse isn’t mute; it is aware of itself, and it speaks up when the penalty scale jumps into the absurd,” Santos wrote in an essay. “This distinction seems lost on the prosecution, who would rather slap a” keep quiet or else “sticker on me and steam-press whatever spirit I’ve got left.”
Santos was elected to Congress in 2022 after flipping a district that includes parts of Queens and Long Island for the GOP. During his campaign, he made several false claims about his background, such as attending New York University and working for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as well as claiming that his grandparents fled the Nazis during World War II.
Last year, Santos attempted to restart his political career by running as an Independent in a neighboring district to re-enter the House.
