Who is Nancy Marks? Santos' ex-campaign treasurer's political roots are in Suffolk

Nancy Marks, 58, of Shirley went from an unpaid campaign volunteer in the early 1990s to the center of the national controversy involving her client, Rep. George Santos. On Thursday she pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with her work on his campaign.

Over the past 30 years she became perhaps the busiest political operator on Long Island, including being the campaign treasurer for Lee Zeldin, last year’s Republican nominee for governor. She also built a $1 million business that included fundraising, campaign literature and signs, and consulting from her Shirley home. It was an uncommon rise for Marks, who has worked for some of Long Island’s most prominent Republicans.

She is a graduate of St. Joseph’s College, now St. Joseph’s University. She was active in her community, including membership in the Rotary Club of Shirley and the Mastics. She has five children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Marks served on the board and was vice president of the Colonial Youth and Family Services, beginning in 2019. The nonprofit organization provides counseling to individuals and families and referrals to other community agencies. On Wednesday night, she resigned as a trustee for the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, which she joined in 2020, a library spokesman said.

The beginning

Marks began her political career as an unpaid volunteer for then-Suffolk County Clerk Edward P. Romaine’s failed 1992 congressional run. Campaign finance records listed her duties as simply “office.” For 15 months over 1994 and 1995, Marks, then going by the name Cartiglia-Marks, worked in the clerk’s office under Romaine, where she started as a $25,186-a-year clerical worker.

In 1996, she began working as aide to former Suffolk County Legis. Fred Towle (R-Shirley), ending that job in 1997. By then, she was the campaign treasurer for Towle and other politicians. The treasurer of a campaign is a part-time, low-paying job with intense periods of work recording campaign contributions and spending that must be reported to the state Board of Elections. Most candidates use a friend or their lawyer to do the job, but Marks cut a new path by patching together many campaigns to cobble together a niche that was the beginning of her political business.

Marks continued to land jobs with political campaigns and also worked at the Mastics-Shirley Chamber of Commerce in 2002, which gave her contact with some of the area’s big political donors.

In 2003, Towle pleaded guilty to accepting bribes as part of the broader Suffolk County corruption scandal. Marks cooperated with federal investigators and wasn’t accused of a crime.

The rise

In 2006, Marks recorded just one payment — $244 — for working on the campaign of county clerk candidate Judy Pascale. But Marks was attracting attention within Republican circles as a chain-smoking workhorse who developed skills not just as a treasurer, but as a consultant and, most importantly, a fundraiser.

She opened Campaigns Unlimited in 2008 out of her Flintlock Drive address, state records show. She was offered not just work as a campaign manager, but also for fundraising and consulting. She also sold campaign mailings and signs, often to the campaigns she managed.

By 2010 she had landed a job as treasurer for Lee Zeldin’s State Senate campaign. She and Zeldin were friends and met at functions at the school at which their children attended, and Marks would sometimes babysit Zeldin’s daughters, Republicans said. Zeldin won and Marks’ reputation grew, along with her client list, which included State Legislature races for the first time.

Two years later she was also running her new companies, GMG Printing and Marketing Resources, out of her Shirley home.

She would, however, stick with Zeldin as he won a seat in Congress.

Privately, some Republicans were calling her work increasingly sloppy as her client list grew. She would often file amendments to her campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections, prompting some Republicans to call her “the queen of amendments.”

Marks meets Santos

On Oct. 2, 2019, she signed on as treasurer for Santos’ first congressional campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. Santos lost the race in 2020, but stayed in contact with Marks as her business and reputation grew.

Marks opened more businesses in 2021, this time in Florida. R.I.A. Concept Holding, with an operating address at Flintlock Drive, Shirley, was part of six entities that created Red Strategies USA, a campaign consulting and services company. Days later, an amendment to the business documents creating Red Strategies replaced R.I.A. with GMG Marketing Resources, also of the same Shirley address.

Also part of Red Strategies was the Devolder Organization, which was one of the companies Santos said he ran. Other partners included Paul Niccolini Associates, Jayson Benoit Associates and D & D International Investment Services. Niccolini and Benoit had previously worked with Santos at Harbor City, an investment company. Harbor City had been accused by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission of being a fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Niccolini or Benoit was charged.

Santos controversy

Santos won his second bid for Congress in November 2022, with Marks as his campaign treasurer. He positioned himself as an openly gay candidate who was a steadfast supporter of Republican President Donald Trump. But Santos' story soon began to unravel as a trail of fabrications, ranging from his religion, to his wealth, to his family and education and his businesses.

Santos blamed Marks for some of his campaign contributions and spending that was being questioned by federal officials and he fired her in January.

Soon, Zeldin would end his long work relationship with Marks. Federal and state records showed some of her other clients had also terminated her work with them.

In her guilty plea Thursday, Marks admitted she filed names of false donors without permission to use their names. Prosecutors said she did so to inflate the amount of campaign funds Santos had on hand.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.