Santos used the funds “for his personal benefit, including to make cash withdrawals, personal purchases of luxury designer clothing, credit card payments, a car payment, payments on personal debts, and one or more bank transfers to [Santos’] personal associates,” according to the filings.
Santos, 34, is also accused of cheating his way to COVID unemployment benefits and lying to Congress on financial disclosure forms in which he claimed to be a millionaire, according to the 13-count indictment against him.
He pleaded not guilty at his first appearance in Central Islip federal court and was released on $500,000 bond.
The openly gay GOP lawmaker — who was elected Nov. 8 to represent New York's 3rd District in Long Island and Queens — made headlines last year after copping to elaborate lies about his education, work experience, and family history before he was voted in. Santos has since been deemed a pariah by other New York Republicans — many of whom have called for him to step down.
He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon on a 13-count indictment charging him with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
"This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations," said US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement.
Prosecutors accuse Santos of "relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself," Peace said.
"He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic and lied to the House of Representatives," Peace continued.
According to the indictment, Santos allegedly solicited two separate payments of $25,000 from two people under the pretense that the money would be used for TV advertisements and for other campaign costs in the 2022 race.
But instead, Santos used the funds, which were donated in October 2022, "for his personal benefit, including to make cash withdrawals, personal purchases of luxury designer clothing, credit card payments, a car payment, payments on personal debts, and one or more bank transfers to [Santos'] personal associates," the filing charges.
Santos allegedly tricked a Queens-based political consultant, "Person 1," into helping him secure the campaign contributions from the two donors. He told the consultant in a Sept. 12, 2022, text message that "Company 1" — which received the contributions — "existed 'just to help this race' and there were 'no limits'" to the number of contributions he was allowed to receive, the indictment states.
So "Person 1" told "Contributor 1" on Oct. 20 that the money would be spent "to get our advertising up on TV," the court papers claim.
On Oct. 26, "in reliance upon these emails and text messages, 'Contributor 1′" transferred $25,000 to be wired to "Company 1," the indictment states.
Similarly, "Person 1" told "Contributor 2" that the funds would be spent "directly on supporting George and his election," the court papers claim.
But after the two donations were transferred to "Company 1," Santos moved the money into his own bank accounts — even, in one instance, laundering it through two of his accounts first, the feds allege.
Santos also lied on Financial Disclosure Statements to Congress and lied about not having a job to get unemployment money during the pandemic — even though he was making $120,000 as regional director at "Investment Firm 1" during the same time period, the indictment charges.
He received unemployment benefits totaling $24,744 by claiming he was unemployed from June 19, 2020, through April 15, 2021, according to prosecutors.
And prosecutors say that Santos also lied in statements to the House about his income — overstating certain income and failing to report others.
In May 2020, Santos filed two disclosures with the House claiming he received $55,000 from "Company 2" when he actually only received a salary of $27,555 in 2019, the indictment says.
And he lied about receiving $25,403 from "Investment Firm 1," the indictment claims.
Then in 2022, he again lied about his financials on the House disclosures, overstating his income and assets, prosecutors say.
Santos allegedly claimed he earned a $750,000 salary from his Florida-based company Devolder Organization LLC.
He also claimed he received dividends from the company valued at between $1 million and $5 million and claimed he had between $100,000 and $250,000 both in his savings and checking accounts.
But all those values were overstated, the indictment claims.
Meanwhile, he failed to disclose that in 2021, he received $28,000 from "Investment Firm 1" and also failed to report more than $20,000 in unemployment benefits, the indictment alleges.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the top charges.
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