Ex-congressman George Santos is in plea talks, federal officials say

NEW YORK - George Santos, the former U.S. representative from New York who was expelled from Congress this month, is negotiating a plea agreement to potentially settle his indictment on fraud and campaign-finance-related charges, federal prosecutors disclosed in court papers Monday.

The Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, which handles cases in Long Island, cited the negotiations in a letter filed in advance of a pretrial conference scheduled for Tuesday. The government’s attorneys proposed a list of pretrial deadlines and a monthlong speedy-trial clock extension to continue discussions for a plea agreement.

“The parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial,” prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Breon Peace’s office and from the Justice Department’s public integrity section wrote in the filing.

Santos’s attorney declined to comment. The former freshman Republican Congress member, who for months resisted calls from fellow legislators and others to resign, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Santos, 35, has been indicted on a host of counts, including charges that he defrauded his donors and lied to the government to get unemployment benefits during the pandemic. He was expelled from Congress on Dec. 1 after a lengthy investigation found rampant misuse of campaign funds and ethical issues.

Santos has lied about many elements of his background, including his educational and family histories. Since his expulsion from Congress, he’s been making videos on an app that lets fans buy personalized video messages from celebrities.

His brazen fabrications, including that his mother survived 9/11 and that he descended from Holocaust survivors, made a household name out of the relatively unknown junior official representing parts of Queens and Long Island. He’s repeatedly been mocked on “Saturday Night Live” and on social media.

A superseding indictment in October charged Santos with stealing his relatives’ identities and using donor credit cards for unauthorized charges. Two members of his campaign have pleaded guilty in connection to Santos’s case.

Campaign treasurer Nancy Marks pleaded guilty in October to conspiring with Santos to lie to the Federal Election Commission, and another staffer, Samuel Miele, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge last month, conceding that he had claimed to be an aide to former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Santos faces 23 counts in total. A trial date has been set for Sept. 9, but prosecutors had asked to advance the matter to May or June.