The embattled United States Representative George Santos has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds in the latest hit to the newly elected Republican, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume.
According to local reports, a 13-count indictment, unsealed recently, charged the 34-year-old with defrauding prospective political supporters by laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses and illegally receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed.
Santos is also accused of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets, income and liabilities.
Reacting to the development, top House Republicans, who control the chamber by a narrow 222-213 margin, said they would wait for the legal process to play out before taking further action on Santos, who made the plea at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.
In a statement, Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself”.
It added that “He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives”.
Reports have it that Santos, who appeared in court recently, was released on a $500,000 bond. In a chat with newsmen after his court appearance, Santos said he planned to remain in Congress, despite pressures to resign, and would continue his re-election bid. He also vowed to clear his name.
Santos is expected to be back in court on June 30 for his next appearance. This means he can go back to Washington and cast votes in Congress. As a condition of his release, he agreed to surrender his passport and to limit his travel.
Santos’s lawyer Joe Murray said “I’m proud of the way he can stand tall and face the music. We’re finally going to get to address all his allegations.”
It could be recalled that shortly after Santos’s election in 2022 to represent a wealthy area of New York’s Long Island, the New York Times and other media outlets revealed that he had fabricated many aspects of his personal and professional history.
The fingered lawmaker had said he had degrees from New York University and Baruch College despite neither institution’s having any record of his attending. He claimed to have worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which also was untrue.
Also, Santos said mendaciously that he was Jewish and that his grandparents escaped the Nazis during World War II. Santos, who identifies as gay, also failed to disclose that he was married to a woman for several years ending in 2019.
Remarkably, he has since admitted to fabricating large parts of his resume.
