Government

Congrats To Rep. George Santos On His First Federal Indictment

Of many?

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New York Grand Jury Votes To Indict Former President Trump

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

It’s tempting to let your eyes glaze over when reading about New York Rep. George Santos. The compulsive fabulist has told so many whoppers that it’s easy to mentally file any story about him under the category of “EVEN MORE LIES” and keep scrolling.

Similarly, one might skim the indictment unsealed by prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York this morning and think, “Meh, let’s call it ‘ALL THE CRIMES,’ and move on. It’s not like Speaker McCarthy is going to make him resign anyway. Wouldn’t it be simpler to list the stuff this weirdo did that doesn’t merit an 18 USC § 1001 False Statements charge?”

But in fact the 13-count indictment is pretty narrow.

There are five wire fraud counts associated with a scheme to solicit campaign contributions to “a small C4” with “no limits” which had been set up “just to help this race.” In fact, a 501(c)(4) could not legally have coordinated with a campaign to spend donations “directly on supporting George and his election.” But in the event, the company which collected the donated cash wasn’t a social welfare organization at all. It was a Florida LLC which Santos used as a passthrough to purchase “luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.” This plot also netted him three charges for monetary transactions involving the proceeds of unlawful activity in violation of 18 USC § 1957(a).

Similarly, Santos claimed federally subsidized unemployment compensation under the the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, despite the fact that he was then making $120,000 as a legislative director. That money came from the US Treasury, and the feds do tend to get a bit testy about that kind of thing, hence the charges of theft of public money and another couple wire fraud counts. This prompted great hilarity on Twitter, since Santos is currently sponsoring HR 1163, the “Protecting Taxpayers and Victims of Unemployment Fraud Act” a bill which “would addresses fraud and overpayments of pandemic unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.”

And finally, Santos is alleged to have taken a fake-it-’til-you-make-it approach to his mandatory financial disclosure as a congressional candidate and member. To wit, he appears to have just made up the numbers on the form:

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Thereafter, on or about September 6, 2022, in connection with the 2022 election for the House, the defendant GEORGE ANTHONY DEVOLDER SANTOS filed a House Disclosure (the “2022 House Disclosure”), in which he falsely certified that, during the reporting period: (a) his earned income consisted of $750,000 in salary from the Devolder Organization LLC; (b) his unearned income included dividends from the Devolder Organization  LLC valued at between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000; (c) he had no compensation exceeding $5,000 from a single source in which he had an ownership interest; ( d) he owned a checking account with deposits totaling between $100,001 and $250,000; and (e) he owned a savings account with deposits totaling between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000.

Contrary to these attestations, as the defendant GEORGE ANTHONY 11 DEVOLDER SANTOS then and there well knew and believed, during the applicable reporting period, he had not received from the Devolder Organization LLC the reported amounts of salary or dividends and, during the reporting period, he did not maintain checking or savings accounts with deposits in the reported amounts. In addition, from approximately January 2021 through September 2021, DEVOLDER SANTOS received approximately $28,107 in income from Investment Firm # 1 and approximately $20,304 in unemployment insurance benefits from the NYS DOL, both of which he failed to truthfully report as required.

That one got him a couple of false statements charges — there’s that § 1001 charge, we always knew you could do it, kid!

Santos was released on a $500,000 bond, required to hand over his passport, and ordered to confine himself to New York City, Islip, and DC.

Outside the Alfonse M. D’Amato Federal Courthouse in Central Islip, Rep. Santos remained defiant, ranting about Joe Biden to a jeering crowd.

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Seems on-brand for a guy who is reported to have participated in a scheme to steal GoFundMe money raised for a veteran’s dying service dog.

His lawyer Joe Murray then hinted at his client’s desire to “share what we’ve learned and what we have. We have information that I think they would be interested to see.”

Or … perhaps we’ll see a superseding indictment. Could go either way!

US v. Devolder Santos [Docket via Court Listener]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.

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