Ex-Rep. George Santos' campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, should get 18 months in prison, federal prosecutors say
Nancy Marks, former Rep. George Santos' campaign treasurer, walks out of federal court in October 2023. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Federal prosecutors are recommending that ex-Long Island Rep. George Santos’ former campaign treasurer, who helped Santos file fraudulent finance reports, serve 18 months in prison when she is sentenced next week.
The probation department calculated Shirley-based veteran Republican campaign operative Nancy Marks’ advisory sentencing guidelines range at 18 to 24 months. The department recommended she serve 18 months and pay restitution in the amount of $178,402.97, a punishment that federal prosecutors said they agree with in a memo filed late Thursday.
“The government respectfully concurs in Probation’s recommendation that an 18-month custodial sentence plus restitution would be sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to achieve the goals of sentencing in this case,” prosecutors said in the memo.
Marks pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud the United States. She conspired with Santos, prosecutors have said, to falsely inflate his campaign donations to meet a $250,000 threshold to receive federal matching funds. Marks resigned as Santos’ campaign treasurer in January 2023.
Marks filed reports with both the Federal Election Commission and the Republican National Committee that included the names of false donors, including at least 10 of their family members, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors, who called Santos in their memo “a flagrantly corrupt and dishonest public figure,” said Marks’ deep experience as a campaign operative helped “perpetrate an historic fraud on the NRCC, the FEC, and the public.”
Marks was a mainstay on Republican campaigns on Long Island, working on more than 150, including the 2022 failed gubernatorial campaign of Lee Zeldin, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency and a former Long Island congressman.
Marks’ attorney Ray Perini, in a voicemail Thursday night, said: “I haven't read their memorandum yet, and I will, but the fact that they’re recommending a sentence at the bottom of the guidelines is a good thing.” Perini filed his own sentencing memo Thursday under seal, according to the federal court case tracker Pacer.
Santos was sentenced last week to 87 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges, admitting to filing the fraudulent reports with the FEC, embezzling funds from his campaign donors, fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits from New York State and lying on his congressional disclosure forms.
Federal prosecutors are recommending that ex-Long Island Rep. George Santos’ former campaign treasurer, who helped Santos file fraudulent finance reports, serve 18 months in prison when she is sentenced next week.
The probation department calculated Shirley-based veteran Republican campaign operative Nancy Marks’ advisory sentencing guidelines range at 18 to 24 months. The department recommended she serve 18 months and pay restitution in the amount of $178,402.97, a punishment that federal prosecutors said they agree with in a memo filed late Thursday.
“The government respectfully concurs in Probation’s recommendation that an 18-month custodial sentence plus restitution would be sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to achieve the goals of sentencing in this case,” prosecutors said in the memo.
Marks pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud the United States. She conspired with Santos, prosecutors have said, to falsely inflate his campaign donations to meet a $250,000 threshold to receive federal matching funds. Marks resigned as Santos’ campaign treasurer in January 2023.
Marks filed reports with both the Federal Election Commission and the Republican National Committee that included the names of false donors, including at least 10 of their family members, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors, who called Santos in their memo “a flagrantly corrupt and dishonest public figure,” said Marks’ deep experience as a campaign operative helped “perpetrate an historic fraud on the NRCC, the FEC, and the public.”
Marks was a mainstay on Republican campaigns on Long Island, working on more than 150, including the 2022 failed gubernatorial campaign of Lee Zeldin, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency and a former Long Island congressman.
Marks’ attorney Ray Perini, in a voicemail Thursday night, said: “I haven't read their memorandum yet, and I will, but the fact that they’re recommending a sentence at the bottom of the guidelines is a good thing.” Perini filed his own sentencing memo Thursday under seal, according to the federal court case tracker Pacer.
Santos was sentenced last week to 87 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges, admitting to filing the fraudulent reports with the FEC, embezzling funds from his campaign donors, fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits from New York State and lying on his congressional disclosure forms.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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