Politics & Finances

Embattled Rep. George Santos In Custody For Wire Fraud, Money Laundering

Embattled Rep. George Santos In Custody For Wire Fraud, Money Laundering

U.S. Representative George Santos (R-NY-03) has been taken into custody by federal authorities on wire fraud and money laundering charges.

News broke yesterday that officials had filed charges against the 34-year-old freshman Congressman. Now, The New York Times has confirmed that Santos surrendered himself this morning. The outlet also shared that he has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

GettyImages-1461104393__resized_George-Santos
Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Santos's entire political career has been plagued with scandal after it emerged that he ran on a campaign littered with half-truths and complete lies. An NBC report about the timeline of events notes that he has previously admitted to embellishing his resume and lying about having "Jewish heritage."

In January 2023, it was confirmed that Santos’s mother was not in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, after he asserted she was a 9/11 survivor who had been in the South Tower at the time of the World Trade Center attacks.

Until now, Santos has maintained that he would not resign, even amid calls from members of his own party to do so. 

The indictment against Santos reads, in part, that he “devised and executed a scheme to defraud supporters of his candidacy for the House and to obtain money from them by fraudulently inducing supporters to contribute funds to an [unnamed company] under the false pretense that the money would be used to support [his] candidacy and then actually spending thousands of dollars on the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments."

Furthermore, Santos allegedly told a political consultant to share “false information” about the unnamed company with his constituents, including claims that it was a social welfare organization.

The allegations also state that he told the consultant to use contributions made to the faux company to further his political ambitions.

GettyImages-1485443677_resized_George-Santos
Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Santos's next court date has not been publicly confirmed at this time. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

This is a developing story.

You Might Also Enjoy:

Feature Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

share this post
Search for matches...
Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

Recommended Professionals

In the face of economic uncertainty, TaxBuzz is the industry's most up-to-date tax information.

Join 60,000 who get our weekly newsletter. No spam.

Need help selecting a firm?

Use our specialized search engine and get matched to the best accounting and tax firm for your needs.

Related Posts

Latest Posts