George Santos should serve over 7 years in prison, US prosecutors say

(Reuters) -Former U.S. Representative George Santos, who was expelled from Congress after a brief and scandal-plagued tenure, should be sentenced to more than seven years in prison for fraud and identity theft, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Friday.

Santos pleaded guilty in August to two of the 23 criminal counts he faced for inflating fundraising numbers and faking donor names to qualify for financial support from the Republican Party during the 2022 election cycle, when the political newcomer was elected to represent a slice of New York City and its eastern suburbs.

Santos' legal team asked for a two-year sentence in a Friday court filing. His lawyer Andrew Mancilla said prosecutors were selling a false narrative to the court.

Prosecutors recommended an 87-month sentence in a court filing Friday, saying the top end of Santos' guideline sentence range was appropriate to reflect the seriousness of his unparalleled crimes.

"Santos planned and executed an assortment of fraudulent schemes and leveraged them and a fictitious life story to enrich himself and capture one of the highest offices in the government of the United States," prosecutors said.

"The government wants headlines, not justice. This vindictive 87-month demand ignores sentencing norms for similar cases," Mancilla said.

During his campaign, Santos claimed that he attended New York University, that he had worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and that his grandparents had fled the Nazis during World War Two. None of those claims were true.

Santos pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert at a hearing in August.

He apologized to his constituents in remarks outside the courthouse in Central Islip, New York after the hearing.

"I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused and accept full responsibility for my actions," Santos said.

Santos was hit with federal charges in May 2023 for laundering campaign funds to pay for his personal expenses, charging donors' credit cards without their consent, and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed.

As part of his plea deal, Santos admitted to all of the wrongdoing described in the indictment, even though he only pleaded guilty to two of the 23 counts.

Santos spent much of his 11 months in office engulfed in scandal, marginalized by his fellow lawmakers and mocked by late-night TV comedians following revelations that he had lied about much of his past.

A bipartisan investigation by the House Ethics Committee found he spent campaign money on Botox, luxury brands such as Hermes, and OnlyFans, an online platform known for sexual content.

His indictment prompted lawmakers to expel Santos from the House of Representatives in December.

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates)