(NEW YORK) -- Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison -- the maximum he faced -- on Friday after pleading guilty to a series of fraudulent schemes.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced him to 87 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.
A tearful Santos told the judge he regrets defrauding the voters who supported his 2022 run for Congress before she handed down the sentence.
"My conduct betrayed my supporters and the institutions I swore to uphold," he said during his sentencing hearing in a New York federal court.
He began to cry and struggled to get out the words as he tried to express remorse for the crimes he committed.
"I undermined the faith in the very institutions I swore to uphold," he said. "I cannot rewrite the past but I can control the road ahead."
He urged Seybert to impose a lenient sentence, arguing he can positively contribute to the community he "robbed."
Judge rebukes Santos' repeated lies
Santos, 36, was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He faced a sentence of 75 to 87 months imprisonment, including a mandatory minimum two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Santos did not take any questions from reporters as he arrived at federal court in Central Islip for the Friday morning sentencing hearing.
His attorney, Andrew Mancilla, described his client’s conduct bluntly, arguing the former congressman is “forever stained” by his actions.
“Everyone hates George Santos,” Mancilla told the court ahead of the sentencing, claiming his client is not the “caricature drawn by the media.”
“He is a 36-year-old gay man with no criminal record who came from a broken family,” Mancilla said. “He built this ego of a man he wanted to be, not who he was.”
But prosecutors argued Santos has shown little remorse for his crimes, has blamed the Department of Justice and committed an “unprecedented” series of crimes.
“He has committed crime after crime after crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Harris said. “He has repeatedly proven he is unable to tell the truth.”
Harris rebuked Santos for suggesting the prosecution was politically motivated and argued the former congressman has demonstrated a “genuine lack of contrition.”
“This case is not the product of so-called lawfare. It is the result of years and years of deceit,” he said.
Seybert agreed, calling out Santos for his repeated lies and lack of remorse.
“It’s incredible that he did not stop with the lies,” she said. “It’s incredible now that he tries to blame the government.”
Before imposing her sentence, Seybert noted she has “sympathy” for Santos, believes he is a talented man and hopes he will eventually contribute to society.
“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” she said, noting the same words that won him a seat in Congress landed him in court.
“You have a future, and I am sad to say in one sense that it is going to be shortened by the sentence I am about to impose,” she added.
As the sentence was read, Santos covered his face with his hands.
He was not immediately remanded and will report to prison at a future date.
Prosecutors highlight 'social media blitz'
In a court filing ahead of Friday's sentencing hearing on Long Island, federal prosecutors requested the maximum possible sentence -- amounting to seven years and three months -- calling his conduct a "brazen web of deceit" that defrauded donors and misled voters.
They also argued the former New York congressman's recent "social media blitz" shows he "remains unrepentant for his crimes" in a subsequent filing. In one example, prosecutors pointed to an April 4 post on Santos' X account that stated, "No matter how hard the DOJ comes for me, they are mad because they will NEVER break my spirit." The post was made the same day the DOJ filed its initial sentencing recommendation.
Santos, meanwhile, insisted in a letter to Seybert this week that he has "accepted full responsibility" for his crimes. He said he can be both "profoundly sorry" and upset by the Justice Department's recommendation of a lengthy prison sentence.
"But saying I'm sorry doesn't require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head. True remorse isn't mute; it is aware of itself, and it speaks up when the penalty scale jumps into the absurd," Santos' letter said.
Santos included a selective chart to suggest the government's sentencing recommendation is out of step with other political prosecutions, citing former Illinois Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. being sentenced to 30 months for misusing $750,000 in campaign funds or ex-New York Rep. Michael Grimm being sentenced to eight months for concealing $900,000 in wages and taxes.
Santos had asked for a two-year prison sentence.
Former campaign treasurer set to be sentenced
Prosecutors alleged Santos, with the help of his former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, falsified Federal Election Commission filings, fabricating donor contributions and inflating fundraising totals to meet the $250,000 threshold required to join the National Republican Congressional Committee's coveted "Young Guns" program.
Marks pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in 2023 and is awaiting sentencing in May.
Santos pleaded guilty in August 2024. The Republican was expelled from Congress in December 2023.
As part of his plea deal, he agreed to pay nearly $600,000 in restitution and forfeiture.
The judge agreed to delay Santos' sentencing, which had initially been scheduled for Feb. 7, after Santos asked for more time to make money off of his podcast to satisfy his restitution and forfeiture.
Members of the Concerned Citizens of NY-03, an organization formed in 2023 by voters from across the region Santos once represented in response to his actions, spoke out following the hearing.
"My reaction in sitting in the courtroom was, 'Cry me a river,' when he got that sentence," Jody Kass Finkel, the head of Concerned Citizens of NY-03, said outside the courthouse. "He has betrayed the public trust."
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