In New York, former congressman George Santos, who was involved in a scandal, has been given extra time to gather over $500,000 in court fines before his imprisonment. He plans to use proceeds from his new podcast to achieve this.
Following his guilty plea to federal charges of fraud and identity theft earlier this year, a New York judge has agreed to Santos’ request to postpone his sentencing, originally scheduled for February 7.
U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert set the new court date for April 25, which is about three months less than Santos sought.
The judge called the short adjournment a “one-time courtesy” granted in the interest of justice.
“Even though he promised and predicted otherwise, Santos has not made any payments or shown evidence of having the funds to settle the amount he owes since admitting guilt,” stated Seybert.
Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his congressional campaign.
He agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture and faces a mandatory minimum two-year sentence and up to 22 years in prison.
In a letter to the judge Friday, Santos’ lawyers said the 36-year-old needs more time to build his newly launched podcast “Pants on Fire” in order to pay off the roughly $580,000 in fines, some of which comes due before his sentencing.
Prosecutors opposed the delay in a letter Tuesday, dismissing Santos’ promises of a forthcoming windfall as “extremely speculative.”
They also cast doubt on his claim of having little more than $1,000 in liquid assets, arguing he’s earned more than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing website Cameo and from a new documentary since he was expelled from Congress in 2023.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace’s office declined to comment. Lawyers for Santos didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
Santos was elected in 2022 to represent a wealthy New York district covering parts of Queens and Long Island.
But the once-rising Republican lasted barely a year in office as his fabricated life story unraveled. His claims of a career at top Wall Street firms and having a college degree were debunked and questions were raised about how he funded his campaign.
Santos became just the sixth House member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues.
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