Nancy Marks, ex-campaign treasurer for former Rep. George Santos, faces sentencing delay, court records show

The sentencing of ex-Long Island congressman George Santos’ former campaign treasurer, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with the disgraced lawmaker to file fraudulent campaign finance reports, has been rescheduled for early next year, court records show.

Former Santos campaign treasurer and Shirley resident Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States last year, is now set to be sentenced on Feb. 18. She was previously scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 12.

Marks' new sentencing date is more than a week after Santos' scheduled sentencing on Feb. 7.

Santos pleaded guilty last month to committing wire fraud and identity theft — admitting, according to prosecutors, that he filed fraudulent Federal Election Commission reports, embezzled funds from campaign donors, charged credit cards without authorization, fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and lied to Congress.

Santos' guilty plea avoids a trial, where Marks could have been called to testify against her former boss. Jury selection for that trial was scheduled to start on Monday.

Marks’ attorney, Ray Perini, of Hauppauge, said by text message Monday that the delay was unrelated to Santos' case.

"Probation is [backlogged] and they need more time to prepare the [presentence] report," said Perini.

John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, declined to comment.

Marks is facing a guidelines sentence of between 3½ and 4 years in federal prison, the presiding judge in the case has said.

Prosecutors said Marks conspired with Santos to falsely inflate the campaign's donations with nonexistent loans in order to meet a $250,000 threshold for matching funds. Prosecutors also said they falsely claimed Santos loaned $500,000 to his campaign.

Marks resigned as Santos’ campaign treasurer in January 2023.

Over a 30-year career, Marks has worked on more than 150 Republican campaigns, establishing herself as a reliable campaign treasurer in GOP circles on Long Island.

Her firm, Campaigns Unlimited, which has the same Flintlock Drive address as her home, collected $1.29 million for work on Republican campaigns from 2008 to 2022 from state and local campaigns and $1 million from congressional campaigns since 2009, Newsday has reported.

Another Santos associate, Samuel Miele, a former fundraiser for the ex-lawmaker, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year, admitting that he had impersonated a top aide to a high-ranking congressional leader — identified as former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — while soliciting a financial contribution to the Santos campaign from a donor in August 2021.

As part of his guilty plea, Miele admitted that he committed access device fraud by charging the credit cards of Santos donors and the donors of others seeking public office without authorization, prosecutors said.

Miele is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1.

Santos, a Republican, entered Congress mired in controversy after The New York Times published a story detailing numerous apparent lies and embellishments that Santos had told about his professional and personal resume as he ran for Congress in the 2022 election cycle.

Santos, who represented New York's 3rd Congressional District, which consists of parts of Nassau County and Queens, was ultimately expelled from Congress last December after a House Ethics Committee report found "substantial evidence" that he engaged in unlawful conduct.

Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, now represents the district.

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.