Former Rep. Santos pleads guilty to federal fraud, theft charges

The former Republican Congressman from New York, George Santos, made a deal with federal prosecutors on Monday and pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The deal will also require Santos to pay restitution of at least $373,000. The plea deal allowed Santos to avoid a September trial for the nearly two dozen charges he faced for allegedly lying to Congress about his wealth and abusing campaign contributions. The Department of Justice initially filed 13 charges against Santos last May before adding 10 more charges just a few months later in October. The former Congressman previously pleaded not guilty to all the charges filed against him. He will be sentenced in February 2025.

When did he leave the House of Representatives? Santos faced calls to resign, even before the DOJ filed charges against him He admitted to lying about his education and his background while running for office as a Republican. But even after the DOJ filed charges against him he refused to leave office. Then in December, the House of Representatives finally removed him from office through a 311-114 vote.

Who took his seat in the House? Long Island voters in a special election chose Democrat Tom Suozzi to fill New York’s 3rd District seat. The Democrat defeated Republican candidate Mazi Pilip—a county-level legislator and mother of seven—to flip the U.S. House seat. Suozzi is filling the remainder of Santos’ term but is running for reelection in November.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report about Santos getting the boot from the House of Representatives late last year.