7/15/2023 0 Comments Pinpoint cafe![]() “As I’ve said from the very beginning on questions on this subject, this legal process is going to play itself out,” Stefanik told reporters at the press conference. When asked whether the allegations of money laundering, wire fraud and lying to Congress concerned him, he responded that it “always concerns me.” “He could go through his time of trial, we’ll find out how the outcome is,” McCarthy told reporters. Santos had stepped down from his committee assignments in January amid the mounting controversy, and he does not serve in House GOP leadership. According to House Rules, members who are criminally charged with a felony that carries a sentence of two or more years in prison should resign from their committee assignments and step down from party leadership. ![]() The indictment does not bar Santos from serving in Congress. The judge can decide to make any sentences run concurrently if Santos is convicted on multiple counts. The top charge of wire fraud carries a maximum jail time of 20 years. Santos is also accused of fraudulently receiving more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits and of making false statements to the House of Representatives in financial disclosure reports in May 2020 and September 2022 during his congressional campaigns. The majority of the charges against Santos - the five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering - pertain to claims that Santos directed an unnamed individual to tell potential campaign donors their contributions would go toward purchasing advertisements for his campaign, when they were actually used for personal expenses.Īccording to the indictment, Santos transferred approximately $74,000 of contributions to his personal bank accounts, which went toward personal expenses, like purchasing designer clothing and paying off personal debts. The indictment accuses Santos of engaging in schemes that misrepresented his finances to the public - including donors - and government agencies. The scrutiny has since expanded to his finances, which were at the center of Wednesday’s indictment. Even before he was sworn into office, questions were raised about Santos’s personal and professional biography. Santos’s plea marks a pivotal moment in his roughly four-month tenure in Congress, which has been marked by controversy and criticism. The charges against the congressman include 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. District Judge Joanna Seybert, who was nominated by then-President Clinton in 1993. His next court appearance is June 30 before U.S. Santos entered his not guilty plea at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., and was released on a $500,000 bond. George Santos (R-N.Y.) pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal charges on Wednesday, hours after federal prosecutors formally accused him of misleading donors and misrepresenting his finances to the public and government agencies.
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