George Santos Charged With Defrauding Campaign Donors

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Facts

• The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has now filed a total of 23 charges against New York Rep. George Santos in an updated indictment, accusing the congressman of 'fraudulent criminal schemes' as well as 'lying to the American public process.'¹
• The latest filing adds 10 new felony charges to the initial 13-count from a May indictment, after which he was released on a $500K bond. They also come a week after Santos' former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to felony charges related to her campaign work.²
• Tuesday's indictment replaces the one from May accusing Santos of campaign embezzlement as well as lying to Congress concerning his wealth. The new charges also allege that Santos charged over $44K to his campaign using the credit cards of donors without their knowledge.³
• Santos is also alleged to have falsely told the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that he had raised at least $250K in a single quarter — the required amount in order to access support from the Republican Party — as well as that he had made a personal $500K loan to his campaign, despite only having $8K in his bank accounts.⁴
• Santos announced earlier this year that he intends to seek reelection to the House. In 2022, Santos admitted to lying concerning his job experience and education during his House campaign, stating that he was 'sorry' for the 'sins' of 'embellishing' his resume in an interview with the New York Post.⁵
• While Santos has yet to comment on the new charges, he has denied the allegations in the past, claiming that the investigation against him is a 'witch hunt.'³

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²NPR Online News, ³Associated Press, ⁴Reuters and ⁵USA Today.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by The daily beast. Santos continues to find himself in further heaps of trouble, with the representative's financial statements audaciously fraudulent and inconsistent. It is clear that much of Santos' behavior upon his campaign trail wasn't remotely legal, with Nancy Mark's guilty plea agreement seemingly the beginning of the end for the New York politician.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Federalist. Santos isn't the first politician to lie, and if such an offense were to be properly investigated, then the likes of Joe Biden would already be in prison. The two-tiered justice system consistently favors Democrats over Republicans, undermining the people's faith in the department. While it's up to judge or jury to decide what happens next, the same standards must be applied across the board.