By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
CENTRAL ISLIP, New York (Reuters) -Former U.S. Representative George Santos pleaded guilty on Monday to fabricating fundraising figures, cementing the downfall of a novice politician who was expelled from Congress last year after a brief, scandal-plagued tenure.
Santos, a Republican, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, the latter carrying a mandatory two-year prison sentence.
The charges stemmed from inflating fundraising numbers and faking donor names to qualify for financial and logistical 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.
After pleading guilty at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, Santos, 36, apologized to his constituents.
"I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused and accept full responsibility for my actions," Santos said in the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, on Long Island, his voice shaking as he read from a prepared statement.
Santos is set to be sentenced on Feb. 7. He could face as much as 22 years in prison, and waived his right to appeal any sentence less than 95 months - just under eight years - as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
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.
He has been free on $500,000 bond since his arrest.
Santos had initially pleaded not guilty. He had been in plea talks with prosecutors since last December.
'CAMPAIGN OF LIES'
Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said the constituents who elected Santos were "badly deceived."
"They were victims of a fraud of unprecedented proportion, and they had to watch helplessly while Santos rode into Congress on a campaign of lies," Peace told reporters after the hearing.
The indictment prompted lawmakers to expel Santos from the House of Representatives in December. "To hell with this place," he said shortly afterward.
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.
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.
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.
"It's clear to me now that I allowed ambition to cloud my judgment, leading me to make decisions that were unethical and illegal," Santos told reporters after leaving the courthouse, before entering a black car that drove him away.
Santos' seat was filled in a special election in February by Democrat Tom Suozzi.