Thursday, December 12

Former Congressman George Santos to Plead Guilty to Fraud

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Former Congressman George Santos is expected to plead guilty to multiple charges during the next session of federal court in Long Island, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The sources, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said Santos, a former New York Republican, is expected to admit to multiple fraud charges at a court hearing later this month.

Attempts to contact Santos’ legal representative for comment were not immediately successful.

The trial date, which has been set for Monday night, was requested by both Santos’ lawyers and federal prosecutors to be a joint session. Ahead of this hearing, some changes were made, including refunds in some pretrial phases.

The development comes as jury selection was set to begin Sept. 9. Santos had previously pleaded not guilty to a series of financial misconduct charges. They included misrepresenting his financial situation to Congress, improperly obtaining unemployment benefits and misusing campaign funds for personal expenses, such as luxury clothing.

Santos was removed from his congressional post in December following an ethics investigation, which uncovered substantial evidence of legal violations and abuse of his public office for personal gain.