Santos, a former congressman, has entered a guilty plea and is expected to serve a minimum of two years in prison

George Santos, a former US representative who was ousted from Congress last year following a brief, scandal-plagued term, entered a guilty plea on Monday to faking fundraising data, thereby ending his career as a politician.

Republican Santos entered a guilty plea to one charge of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, the latter of which carries a two-year prison sentence that is obligatory.

During the 2022 election cycle, the political novice was elected to represent a portion of New York City and its eastern suburbs. The charges arose from exaggerating fundraising figures and fabricating donor names in order to be eligible for financial and logistical help from the Republican party.

Santos, 36, apologized to his people following his guilty plea at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert.

Speaking from a prepared statement, Santos shook his voice as he stated, “I deeply regret my conduct and the harm it has caused and accept full responsibility for my actions,” in the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, on Long Island.

Santos is scheduled for sentencing on February 7. A plea agreement with federal prosecutors included the possibility of up to 22 years in jail and the waiver of the right to appeal any sentence of less than 95 months, or slightly under eight years.

In May 2023, Santos was charged federally for using campaign funds to cover his own costs, using credit cards of contributors without authorization, and collecting unemployment benefits while working.

Despite just entering a guilty plea to two of the 23 counts, Santos acknowledged all of the misconduct detailed in the indictment as part of his plea agreement.

Upon a $500,000 bond, he has been freed after his arrest.

At first, Santos entered a not guilty plea. Since late December, prosecutors and he had been in plea negotiations.

“LIE CAMPAIGN”

The Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney, Breon Peace, stated that the people who chose Santos were “badly deceived.”

“They had to watch helplessly while Santos rode into Congress on a campaign of lies, and they were victims of a fraud of unprecedented proportion,” Peace told reporters following the session.

Santos was removed from the House of Representatives in December by legislators as a result of the indictment. Not long after, he exclaimed, “To hell with this place.”

After it was discovered that Santos had lied about a large portion of his past, he was scorned by late-night TV comedians and spent the most of his 11 months in office mired in scandal.

While running for office, Santos made several claims, including that he went to New York University, had experience working at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and that his grandparents had escaped the Nazis in World War Two. Those were all untrue allegations.

He used campaign funds for Botox, high-end labels like Hermes, and OnlyFans, an internet platform with a reputation for pornographic content, according to a bipartisan House Ethics Committee probe.

Santos told reporters as he left the courtroom, “It’s clear to me now that I allowed ambition to cloud my judgment, leading me to make decisions that were unethical and illegal,” before getting into a black sedan and driving off.

In a special election held in February, Democrat Tom Suozzi was elected to fill Santos’ seat.