Rep. George Santos' criminal defense attorney, Joseph Murray, has potential conflict in the case, federal prosecutors argue

The criminal defense attorney for indicted Rep. George Santos could be dismissed from the case over potential conflicts due to his relationships with two witnesses who could potentially testify against the congressman.

In court papers filed Friday, federal prosecutors requested a hearing before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert to examine the issue after Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, advised prosecutors that he had a professional relationship with Nancy Marks.

Marks, Santos' former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for falsely listing donors and artificially inflating the amount of funds he raised to meet financial bench marks necessary to receive financial assistance.

Marks, a mainstay in Republican campaigns for more than a decade, was the treasurer for Murray’s failed 2019 bid for Queens district  attorney. Murray’s campaign lasted two months, though his campaign account remains open but inactive.

Additionally, Murray also had a “personal relationship” with “Person #1” as identified in the indictment against Santos “arising from their mutual involvement in local politics,” prosecutors said.

Person #1 had an initial consultation with Murray and tried to retain him for legal representation, but Murray never entered into a retainer and declined because he was already representing Santos, prosecutors said.

“Mr. Murray’s relationships with Person #1 and Ms. Marks pose inherent dangers in that his affiliation with these individuals, each of whom was centrally involved in one of the criminal schemes charged in the Indictment, has the potential to affect his advice and conduct in this matter,” wrote federal prosecutors. "They contend that the prior relationships could impact Murray’s advice to Santos on whether to proceed to trial or plead guilty and his potential cross-examination of either Person #1 or Ms. Marks if the case goes to trial," the court document states. 

Prosecutors said Murray advised them of the potential conflicts after Marks pleaded guilty Oct. 5, saying he “was concerned about the potential conflicts or appearance of conflicts created by the aforementioned relationships.”

Reached by telephone Friday, Murray said: “It was me that brought it to their attention because I wanted to clear the air and make sure there’s no issue, and I planned on addressing it with the judge as well.”

He added that Santos, a Republican who represents parts of Nassau and Queens, knows about the relationships, and  Murray expects to continue representing him.

“He’s obviously been aware of this the whole time,” Murray said. “I revealed it to him right off the bat and he had no issue.”

Santos, 35, whose congressional career began with controversy after he admitted lying or embellishing multiple parts of his resume and background, was arrested in May on charges that he orchestrated a series of schemes while running for Congress, including ripping off political donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits authorized under COVID-19 and lying on his congressional financial disclosure forms.

A superseding indictment unsealed earlier this month alleged that Santos filed fraudulent fundraising reports to obtain financial support for his congressional campaign and stole thousands of dollars from his campaign contributors by charging their credit cards without authorization. 

Santos has denied the allegations. 

Santos is scheduled to be arraigned next Friday at federal court in Central Islip on the new charges, including two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the commission, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud.

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.