The Justice Department is asking a judge to sentence disgraced former Congressman George Santos to seven years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last year. His lawyers have asked for a lighter, two-year sentence ahead of his official sentencing on April 25. Santos, once hailed as a rare openly gay Republican in Congress, has spectacularly fallen from grace. He was expelled from Congress in 2023 after a damning House Ethics Committee report accused him of using campaign funds for personal luxuries — including OnlyFans subscriptions, designer goods, and Botox.
He also admitted to lying about his education, and work history, and even falsely claiming connections to the Pulse nightclub shooting and 9/11. The DOJ wrote: “From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives.” Despite once cosponsoring anti-LGBTQ legislation and attacking queer families, Santos now seeks leniency. His lawyers argue his crimes were non-violent and that he cooperated in a separate investigation. He has since taken to Cameo for income and briefly flirted with a return to politics as an independent — before backing out.
