Judge to weigh George Santos’ remorse at fraud sentencing  

Former Rep. George Santos’ (R-N.Y.) sass and combativeness supercharged his public profile and earned him a devoted following, despite his criminal transgressions. But on Friday, he’ll be forced to defend it as he stares down years in prison. 

The former congressman’s social media presence is set to take center stage as he returns to a Long Island courtroom Friday morning to receive his criminal sentence for defrauding his campaign donors and the federal government.  

He insists his guilty plea last summer shows he accepts responsibility, so he shouldn’t be given any more jail time than the two-year minimum required by law. Federal prosecutors have sought to far surpass it by questioning Santos’s remorse, pointing to his recent posts attacking them. 

“Saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head,” Santos pushed back in a recent letter to the court. 

After Santos was elected to the House in 2022, the story of his life began to unravel, exposed as a series of outlandish lies. He was hit with 23 felony charges less than a year into his freshman term, spanning wire fraud and aggravated identity theft to false statements and falsifying records. 

The House expelled him from the lower chamber in a historic and bipartisan vote months later. 

After months of proclaiming innocence, Santos reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to two felonies in August. He admitted to filing false campaign finance reports, charging donors’ credit cards without authorization and fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits, among other things. 

“It is not only a recognition of my misrepresentations to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I have told myself over these past few years,” Santos said outside the courthouse after entering his plea, holding back tears. 

But as Santos now prepares to receive his sentence, a new battle has ensued over whether the former lawmaker has truly accepted responsibility. 

Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, an appointee of former President Clinton who oversees the case, to sentence Santos to more than seven years in prison, saying he “remains unrepentant.” Judges may weigh remorse when deciding the punishment for a conviction.  

They note Santos’s social media posts where Santos has criticized the Justice Department’s handling of the case, including posts in recent weeks. 

“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,” prosecutors wrote in a letter last week. 

“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,” it continued. 

In the early April posts, Santos vowed that the Justice Department will “NEVER break my spirit” and that he will “NOT succumb to their soul crushing antics.”  

He posted an image of himself with the caption “Category is: Scapegoat” and suggested that the notion he used campaign funds to buy items from the luxury brand Hermès is a “false statement that has been passed on as truth.” 

“Even at this late stage, he simply refuses to fully own up to his actions,” the prosecutors wrote, noting that Santos did use campaign contributions to make luxury purchases at Hermès and other stores.  

Santos pushed back against the government’s representations in a Saturday letter to the court that promised "months of bruising self-examination" led to his guilty plea and the tearful apology he shared then was not "scripted contrition.” 

He told Seybert that, since pleading guilty, he has continued weekly psychological counseling to better understand the “insecurities and narcissistic blind spots” that led him to violate the law. He also indicated interest in an alcohol treatment program before going to prison to address what his lawyers called Santos’s “regular consumption pattern.” 

“Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,” Santos wrote.  

The judge is expected to sentence Santos to at least some jail time. His aggravated identity theft charge carries a two-year mandatory minimum. 

However, he called the penalty proposed by the government — seven years and three months — “absurd” and an effort to “steam-press whatever spirit” he has left.  

As Friday’s proceeding approached, Santos has been publicly counting down the days. He told his supporters Wednesday that it was their last day to request Cameo videos from him for an “undetermined amount of time.” 

“Your Honor, I do not ask the Court to ignore my crimes,” Santos wrote to the judge. “I ask the Court see through what the government is doing, and to rise above it.”