Disgraced former congressman George Santos, going through a federal jail sentence, has gained a couple of months’ freedom to provide you with greater than half 1,000,000 {dollars} in courtroom fines — together with from work on his new podcast.
A New York choose on Wednesday granted the Republican’s request to delay his Feb. 7 sentencing after he pleaded responsible this summer season to federal fraud and id theft costs.
U.S. District Courtroom Choose Joanna Seybert set the brand new courtroom date for April 25, which is about three months lower than Santos sought.
The choose known as the quick adjournment a “one-time courtesy” granted within the curiosity of justice.
“Since the date that the defendant entered his plea of guilty, he has not made any payments toward the amount owed nor has he indicated that he has funds to do so, despite his promises and predictions,” Seybert wrote.
Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of practically a dozen folks, together with his family members, to make donations to his congressional marketing campaign.
He agreed to pay practically $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture and faces a compulsory minimal two-year sentence and as much as 22 years in jail.
In a letter to the choose Friday, Santos’ legal professionals stated the 36-year-old wants extra time to construct his newly launched podcast “Pants on Fireplace” so as to repay the roughly $580,000 in fines, a few of which comes due earlier than his sentencing.
Prosecutors opposed the delay in a letter Tuesday, dismissing Santos’ guarantees of a forthcoming windfall as “extraordinarily speculative.”
In addition they forged doubt on his declare of getting little greater than $1,000 in liquid belongings, arguing he is earned greater than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing web site Cameo and from a brand new documentary since he was expelled from Congress in 2023.
U.S. Lawyer for the Jap District of New York Breon Peace’s workplace declined to remark.
However in a letter filed Wednesday forward of the choose’s ruling, they known as prosecutors’ monetary critiques “false and deceptive” and said their request to buy Santos more time to “muster a substantial lump-sum payment” and prepare for sentencing was “hardly extraordinary.”
They stated Santos hasn’t earned greater than $400,000 from Cameo, as prosecutors declare, however nearer to $350,000 and that the income had been primarily used to pay authorized charges and dwelling bills for him and his household lengthy earlier than he reached a plea deal.
Since then, they stated, Santos has been unsuccessful in “securing significant revenue” outdoors of the podcast he launched simply final month.
“The government’s reckless misrepresentations to this Court,” they wrote, “seems to have been meant to seize tabloid headlines moderately than advance the pursuits of justice it purports to champion.”
Santos was elected in 2022 to symbolize a rich New York district masking components of Queens and Lengthy Island.
However the once-rising Republican lasted barely a yr in workplace as his fabricated life story unraveled. His claims of a profession at prime Wall Road companies and having a university diploma had been debunked, and questions had been raised about how he funded his marketing campaign.
Santos turned simply the sixth Home member within the chamber’s historical past to be ousted by colleagues.
