Feds Demand Harsh Prison Sentence for ‘Belligerent’ George Santos, Slamming His ‘Insatiable Appetite’ for Attention

Disgraced former New York Rep. George Santos might be posting his way into a longer prison sentence.

In a Justice Department filing from April 17, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham argued that Santos’ “unrepentant” social media posts about his ongoing fraud case prove that he deserves a “significant carceral sentence.”

Durham brought receipts, sharing one post where Santos replied to someone on X who asked if he really used campaign funds to “buy Hermès,” as he was accused.

“No!” Santos responded. “That’s a false statement that has been passed on as truth!”

Durham’s filing, however, stated, “As the Court knows, Santos did use campaign contributions made to Redstone Strategies LLC to make luxury purchases at, among other stores, Hermès. Even at this late stage, he simply refuses to fully own up to his actions.”

The attorney also shared screenshots of posts in which Santos paints himself as the victim, stating multiple times that the DOJ “won’t break my spirit.”

“Put plainly, Santos is not genuinely remorseful, despite accepting responsibility as part of his allocution,” Durham wrote. “If he were, his actions would be different. At a minimum, one would expect Santos to approach sentencing with a modicum of restraint so as not to undermine the attorneys who have advocated for leniency on his behalf.”

“Instead, however, Santos has reverted to form and approaches sentencing with belligerence and an insatiable appetite for ‘likes,’ blaming his situation on everyone except himself,” the federal prosecutor added in his blistering note to the court. 

Durham then warned that Santos’ apparent performance of innocence and persecution serves to “demonstrate a strong risk of recidivism and a lack of remorse for his conduct.”

For these reasons, among others, Durham asked for an 87-month custodial sentence for Santos — or seven years and three months in prison.

District Judge Joanna Seybert is scheduled to determine Santos’ sentence during a court hearing on Long Island on April 25. 

After months of legal back-and-forth, Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on Aug. 19, 2024, admitting that he had lied about his background and committed identity theft in order to bolster his political campaign. 

Only a year after flipping a congressional seat red in the 2022 midterm elections, he was ousted from the House of Representatives in December 2023, becoming just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber’s history.

In a previous filing, attorneys argued that Santos’ had “made a mockery” of the U.S. election system.

“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” they wrote.

Santos has since launched a podcast, Pants on Fire, and sought commissions on Cameo and OnlyFans in order to pay legal fees and fines.

Two of his former campaign staffers, Sam Miele and Nancy Marks, have also pleaded guilty in connection with campaign financing fraud, admitting to charging donors’ credit cards without permission and filing bogus finance reports.