Federal judge delays ex-Rep. George Santos' sentencing on fraud conviction

A federal judge has agreed to postpone sentencing for ex-Long Island Congressman George Santos as a "one time courtesy" after Santos asked for a delay because he doesn't have the more than half-million dollars to pay the judgments lodged against him.

U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert, in a Wednesday order, rescheduled Santos' Feb. 7 sentencing to April 25.

Santos' attorneys last week requested that sentencing for his fraud and identity theft conviction be postponed until August, citing his need for more time to generate revenue after the launch of his podcast, "Pants on Fire with George Santos" was delayed.

Federal prosecutors, however, issued a blistering response, calling the name of the podcast a "tone-deaf and unrepentant reference to the crimes he committed" and calling Santos' expected financial windfall from the podcast proceeds "extremely speculative."

Prosecutors said Santos has been paid "well more" than $400,000 from the Cameo video app and another $400,000 from a documentary, but still hasn't made a single payment to satisfy the $373,000 in restitution and $205,000 forfeiture judgment — the latter of which is required to be paid in full 30 days before sentencing.

"Despite earning more than $800,000 (and, prior to that, maintaining a $174,000 publicly-funded salary as a Congressman), Santos has claimed to the Probation Department that he has little more than $1,000 in liquid assets," prosecutors wrote to the judge Tuesday. "No explanation is given in Santos’ letter for how those funds were spent."

The judge concurred and said this would be the last adjournment barring an emergency.

"Since the date that the defendant entered his plea of guilty, he has not made any payments toward the amount owed nor has he indicated that he has funds to do so, despite his promises and predictions," Seybert wrote.

Prosecutors also said adjourning Santos' sentencing would "create a perverse incentive structure, rewarding defendants who seek to capitalize on their notoriety and criminality. Put differently, allowing Santos to stave off sentencing specifically to monetize his infamy would send a message to the public that crime pays."

Santos' attorneys Andrew Mancilla, Robert Fantone and Joseph Murray, fired back in their own letter, attacking prosecutors.

"Far from providing a principled basis to deny Mr. Santos additional time in which to fulfill his substantial financial obligations, the government’s opposition reads more like a press release — replete with references to sensational media coverage and personal attacks, yet devoid of any sound legal or factual basis to reject a straightforward scheduling request," Santos' attorneys wrote.

Santos, a Republican who represented parts of Long Island and Queens for about 11 months before he was expelled from Congress, admitted running a series of schemes as he ran for Congress. He was elected in 2022.

Santos, who was uncovered as a serial liar soon after his election, inflated his campaign's financing in order to qualify for federal matching funds, stole money from his campaign contributors by fraudulently charging their credit cards, received more than $24,000 in state unemployment benefits while he had a job and made false statements on his congressional financial disclosure forms, prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in August to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.

Santos, 36, faces a minimum of 2 years in prison and a maximum of 22 years, prosecutors have said.

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.