Santos Charged With 23 More Counts In Superseding Indictment: DOJ

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — Congressman George Santos has been charged in a 23-count superseding indictment, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

As alleged in the superseding indictment, Santos, who was elected to Congress last November and sworn in as the U.S. Representative for New York’s Third Congressional District on January 7, engaged in two fraudulent schemes, in addition to the multiple fraudulent schemes alleged in the original indictment.

Santos faces one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of access device fraud, officials said.

The "Party Program Scheme" was to ensure that Santos and his campaign qualified for a program administered by the national party committee, the indictment said. According to the court filing, to qualify for the program, Santos had to demonstrate, among other things, that his campaign raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter.

Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty on October 5 to related conduct, was the treasurer for his principal congressional campaign committee, the filing said.

Marks agreed to falsely report to the FEC that Santos had loaned the campaign significant sums of money, when, in fact, Santos had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans, officials said. These falsely reported loans included a $500,000 loan when Santos had less than $8,000 in his personal and business bank accounts, the indictment states.

In addition, between December 2021 and August 2022, Santos devised and executed a fraudulent scheme to steal the personal identity and financial information of contributors to his campaign, the DOJ said. He then charged contributors’ credit cards repeatedly, without their authorization, the Department of Justice said.

In May, Santos was indicted on 13 counts that included money laundering, fraud and making false statements.

Santos is due back in federal court in Central Islip on Oct. 27.