Santos Arraigned On Federal Charges

Freshman congressman claims he didn’t see it coming

In the month and change since Santos Watch went on break, it would appear that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), not unlike the titular man himself, has been keeping pretty busy.

The EDNY recently made international news on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice by filing federal charges against freshman congressman Representative George Santos (NY-03), bringing a new level of intensity to an ongoing Santos saga.

On May 9, CNN first broke the news that Santos was expected to be indicted on federal charges relating to financial aspects of his campaign and fundraising.

On May 10, the EDNY unsealed its 13-count indictment against Rep. Santos, who turned himself in to the federal courthouse in Central Islip. Once there, he was arrested and arraigned on 13 federal criminal charges, including 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.

Santos pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was released on $500,000 bond that was arranged by three unnamed parties.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace stated that the indictment “seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.”

Fellow members of the House of Representatives from New York quickly weighed in in the hours following news of the Santos indictment.

“The criminal prosecution of Rep. George

Rep. George Santos’ Twitter profile banner features an image of Santos outside Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023, the day former President Trump was arraigned there. (Screenshot via Twitter)

Santos is long overdue. He is a pathological liar and lawbreaker who lied to the voters of New York State and defrauded his way into the U.S. Congress,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15) commented in a statement. “Santos is a deep rot of corruption at the core of Congress.”

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04) said in a statement, “I am confident the justice system will fully reveal Congressman Santos’ long history of deceit, and I once again call on this serial fraudster to resign from office.”

For his part, Santos seemingly didn’t know about the impending charges, or at least said he didn’t. Writing on Twitter, a favorite platform of Santos, Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri said that when she contacted Santos about the indictment being unsealed the next day, he responded, “That’s news to me,” and, “You’re the first to call me about this.”

He later tweeted, “WITCH HUNT!”

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