CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Embattled Congressman George Santos is now in custody on federal rates following surrendering to authorities on Very long Island.
He turned himself in about 9 a.m. Wednesday at federal court in Central Islip. In accordance to the indictment, he faces 7 counts of wire fraud, a few counts of revenue laundering, one particular count of theft of community funds and two counts of making materially bogus statements to the House of Associates.
“He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully utilized for unemployment gains that really should have absent to New Yorkers who had shed their work because of to the pandemic, and lied to the Home of Associates,” the U.S. attorney’s business for the Eastern District of New York said in a assertion.
Prosecutors allege Santos been given $50,000 in campaign contributions from two individual folks. Instead of making use of them for political uses, he allegedly paid for personal expenditures, such as designer outfits, to withdraw funds and pay out off some personalized personal debt.
In the course of his transient time in business office, Santos has been accused of violating campaign finance and conflict of interest regulations, thieving cash meant for an Iraq War veteran’s dying pet, and lying about his university degree and perform encounter.
The FBI and Justice Department have been investigating his money disclosures, especially how he raised hundreds of thousands of bucks during his campaign for New York’s 3rd congressional district.
Prolonged Island voters and lawmakers, in the meantime, have been contacting for Santos to be expelled from the Household for months.
But even with stress mounting from both equally sides of the aisle, Household Speaker Kevin McCarthy has explained he would only contact for Santos to resign if he was discovered guilty — not before.
Santos’ place of work has not returned phone calls for remark, but he built a promise to CBS Information New York’s political reporter Marcia Kramer on “The Point” this previous weekend.
“I is not going to debate what the investigation entails right until it is concluded, and I’ll appear back on your exhibit and give you a entire detail of it,” Santos said.
Even if convicted of a crime, he can only be eliminated from workplace if two-thirds of the Household of Associates vote to expel him.
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