Disgraced former US Rep. George Santos seeks to delay fraud sentencing to make more podcast episodes

[January 08, 2025]  By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced former congressman George Santos has asked a New York judge to delay his sentencing on federal fraud charges until the summer so he can pay off more than half a million dollars in fines by making more episodes of his recently launched podcast “Pants on Fire."

But prosecutors, in their response Tuesday, dismissed the New York Republican's promises of a financial boon as “extremely speculative” and derided the program's title as a “tone-deaf and unrepentant reference to the crimes he committed."

They also cast doubt on his claim of having little more than $1,000 in liquid assets as they argued for the sentencing to proceed as scheduled on Feb. 7.

Prosecutors say the 36-year-old Santos has earned more than $400,000 from appearances on Cameo, the video-sharing website, and another $400,000 from a new documentary since he was expelled from the U.S. House in December 2023. Santos was just the sixth House member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues.

His earnings, prosecutors said, come on top of the roughly $174,000 taxpayer-funded salary he received during his 11-month stint on Capitol Hill.

“His letter fails to provide any accounting of his current financial condition; fails to offer any explanation of his dissipation of assets (including personal spending) in the months since his guilty plea,” prosecutors wrote.

Lawyers for Santos didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.

Elected in 2022, Santos was a once rising Republican star for flipping a wealthy New York district covering parts of Queens and Long Island.

But his life story unraveled even before taking office, with his claims of a career at top Wall Street firms and having a college degree debunked amid questions about how he funded his campaign.

In August, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, admitting that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his campaign.

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos arrives at court in Central Islip, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, File)

At the time, Santos blamed ambition for clouding his judgment and said he was “flooded with deep regret.” He faces a mandatory minimum two-year sentence for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 22 years in prison.

As part of a deal negotiated with prosecutors, Santos agreed to pay nearly $580,000 in fines, including nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture.

But on Friday, his lawyers asked the judge to postpone the sentencing until August, noting he's required to pay the forfeiture 30 days before his court date.

They said the weekly podcast he announced shortly after pleading guilty represents a “promising revenue stream," but, due to “technical and logistical impediments," wasn’t launched until Dec. 15.

“Mr. Santos now has a viable path to making meaningful progress in satisfying his obligations, requiring only additional time for the quarterly compensation structure to generate sufficient funds,” his lawyers wrote.

Prosecutors however, countered that Santos' request provides no details about the venture's predicted financial returns.

They said his compensation, based on a report from the probation department, will likely consist of 50% of net profits, to be paid within 90 days of the end of each calendar quarter — an arrangement that's “highly unlikely to net Santos enough money to satisfy his restitution and forfeiture obligations by August.”

Prosecutors also cautioned that granting the delay would “create a perverse incentive structure,” in which defendants who capitalized on their "notoriety and criminality" were rewarded.

“Put differently, allowing Santos to stave off sentencing specifically to monetize his infamy would send a message to the public that crime pays,” they wrote.

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