New York [US], April 26: Former U.S. Representative George Santos, who was expelled from Congress in December 2023, was sentenced on Friday to 87 months in prison for aggravated identity theft and wire fraud charges.
Santos must surrender to federal custody by July 25, ruled Joanna Seybert, a judge from U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The 87-month prison term matched a recommendation by federal prosecutors while a lawyer for Santos asked for a minimum term of two years.
The former Republican congressman from New York's 3rd congressional district also was ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of over 373,000 U.S. dollars and over 200,000 dollars in forfeiture.
Santos, born in 1988, sobbed in the courtroom and said he betrayed the confidence in him.
"I cannot rewrite the past, but I can control the road ahead, I have tried my best," Santos said in a brief statement.
Santos pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2024 as he faced 23 federal felony counts.
"George Santos spent his brief career in public service conning his donors and constituents until the deceit caught up to him and he was exposed as an opportunist and a fraud. Today's lengthy prison sentence is a just ending for a weaver of lies who believed he was above the law," stated Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.
Santos served less than a year in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was expelled over his lies, scandals and alleged campaign finance crimes. He is the sixth member in the chamber's history ousted by colleagues, and the third since the Civil War.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
