George Santos Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

Former Republican congressman and Cameo star George Santos was sentenced Friday to serve over seven years in federal prison.

Santos’ 87-month sentence comes a year after he pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. At that time, Santos confessed to lying to Congress and defrauding campaign donors, among other crimes. Standing in Federal District Court in Central Islip, New York, on Friday, Santos was given until July 25 to surrender to federal authorities and officially begin serving his prison sentence of seven years and three months.

“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” Judge Joanna Seybert told Santos. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”

Judge Seybert’s sentence adhered to federal prosecutors’ recommendation. Santos’ lawyers had fought for a lesser sentence of two years with probation, but Santos also told The New York Times this week ahead of his sentencing that he had no plan to request a pardon of any kind.

“Right now, my expectation is I’m going to prison for 87 months. I’m totally resigned,” he revealed to the outlet on Wednesday. “I came to this world alone. I will deal with it alone, and I will go out alone.”

In 2022, Santos was elected to Congress when he won a Congressional seat in a famously Democratic-leaning Long Island district. He became the first openly gay Republican to be elected to Congress. However, an investigation by the House Ethics Committee discovered that Santos had spent some of his campaign funds on OnlyFans, Botox, designer fashion items and cosmetic products.

This investigation led to over 100 Republicans joining House Democrats in voting for Santos to be expelled from the House of Representatives. As a result of his expulsion, Santos became the first House member to be expelled prior to being convicted of a crime.

During his brief tenure in the national spotlight, it was discovered that Santos had not only lied about the distribution of his campaign funds but also that he was the descendant of Holocaust refugees and that his mother had been in the World Trade Center during the infamous 9/11 attacks in Sept. 2001. He had also lied, it turned out, about where he went to high school and college and had fabricated past experiences working on Wall Street and competing as a volleyball star.

Shortly after he was expelled from Congress, Santos joined the social media app Cameo, which allows users to pay celebrities to record and send them personalized videos. He took advantage of his cultural infamy to make quick money, even in the wake of his political fall from grace.

In December 2024, he launched a podcast titled “Pants on Fire,” in reference to his history of lying. Its guests have so far included Isaiah Washington, Taylor Lorenz, Perez Hilton, Joe Exotic and others.

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