Disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos says he is 'resigned' as he faces sentencing Friday on wire fraud, aggravated identity theft

When ex-Long Island Rep. George Santos is sentenced Friday for executing a series of fraudulent schemes as he ran for elected office, the former lawmaker faces a prison term of anywhere from 2 years to more than 7 years in a federal lockup.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Santos said he felt "completely mentally resigned from everything."

"I'm doing my best and focusing on showing up [tomorrow] and hoping just for a fair shake. That's all I ask for," Santos told Newsday ahead of his Friday sentencing hearing. "This is just part of dealing with the consequences of your actions, and I am dealing with consequences of my own actions, and these are all self-inflicted wounds."

Santos, 36, now a podcaster after he was ejected from Congress amid his criminal case, is hoping to be housed in protective custody in whichever federal prison he's assigned to, he told NY1 in a recent interview.

Santos, who pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, has sought to serve a 2-year sentence, the minimum allowed for the identity theft charge. 

Federal prosecutors, however, have asked the judge to impose a hefty 87-month prison term, saying his conduct merits a "substantial deterrent."

Santos has called the potential sentence an "overreach" and much higher than the sentences of other comparative white collar criminals.

"My posts may be colorful but they don’t justify a sentence triple the norm, and the government should be ashamed of itself for even seeking such a high sentence," Santos wrote in a letter to the judge this week, referencing his social media posts critical of prosecutors' actions in the case.

Prosecutors had decried Santos' posts, saying he showed a lack of remorse, in their own letter to the judge.

Ultimately, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert will decide how long Santos is incarcerated. Seybert is scheduled to impose Santos' sentence at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the federal courthouse in Central Islip.

Santos, who was unmasked as a serial liar in The New York Times soon after he was elected, committed a series of crimes as he ran for Congress.

Santos made several false statements on his congressional financial disclosure form, inflated his campaign's financing levels in order to qualify for federal matching funds, stole money from his campaign contributors by fraudulently charging their credit cards, and received more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits from New York State while he had a job, prosecutors have said.

Santos was expelled from Congress in a historic move — only the sixth House lawmaker in U.S. history to be removed from the body — after representing parts of Nassau and Queens for about 11 months. As he ran for election, Santos lied about much of his resume, falsely claiming that he had worked for Wall Street banks and graduated from Baruch College and New York University.

As part of his guilty plea, during which he apologized to voters for his conduct, Santos agreed to pay $373,000 in restitution and to forfeit another $205,000.

Santos has sought to make money off his notoriety, setting up a video-sharing account on Cameo, where celebrities and other well-known people are paid for short, individualized video messages. He became a political columnist at the tiny, Long Island-based South Shore Press. And he's started a weekly podcast with a heavy nod to his aversion to the truth called "Pants On Fire With George Santos."

Santos, in his NY1 interview, said he has not requested clemency from President Donald Trump, who has granted pardons and commutations to a variety of criminal defendants since taking office in January, including all of the Jan. 6 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol. Santos remains a strong Trump cheerleader on social media.

Santos, in his lengthy letter to the judge, said he has not requested that any of his family or friends submit character letters to the court, a common practice for criminal defendants seeking to have judges take into consideration their good character. Santos is married to a pharmacist.

"There is a very real human cost to a 87-month term of imprisonment, not just to me, but to those who rely and depend on me, and that’s in addition to the destruction that has already affected me and my family," Santos wrote to the judge. "I have been expelled from Congress — the career I had worked years to build — and my public standing collapsed almost overnight. The likelihood of returning to public service — or even securing ordinary employment — has dwindled to near zero."

With Laura Figueroa Hernandez

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.