Prosecutors seek 7 years in prison for disgraced ex-US Rep. George Santos in federal fraud case

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Prosecutors seek 7 years in prison for disgraced ex-US Rep. George Santos in federal fraud case

2025-04-05 10:14 Last Updated At：10:20

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos after he pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York argued in a court filing Friday that a significant sentence was warranted because the New York Republican’s “unparalleled crimes” had “made a mockery” of the country’s election system.

“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives," the office wrote.

Prosecutors also argued that Santos had been “unrepentant and defiant” for years, dismissing the prosecution as a “witch hunt” and refusing to resign from Congress as his web of lies was debunked.

They said his claims of remorse after pleading guilty “ring hollow" and suggested he has a “high likelihood of reoffending" given he has not forfeited any of his ill-gotten gains or repaid any of his victims.

Santos’ lawyers, in an email to The Associated Press, dismissed the seven-year proposal as “absurd and unfounded,” saying it appears “designed to beat up on a man that already took full responsibility for his actions.”

In their own sentencing memo Friday, they rejected the notion that Santos will fall back into criminal behavior, noting he has no prior criminal record and also provides “crucial” support to his sister and her young daughter.

They argued for a two-year prison term, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft.

The lawyers maintain such a sentence is in line with those handed to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and other political figures facing similar financial crimes.

They also touted Santos' cooperation in a separate federal investigation into a Texas man who tried to dupe Santos out of nearly $1 million by posing as a political fixer offering to destroy evidence in his cases.

“This sentence, coupled with the significant collateral consequences Mr. Santos has already suffered—including the loss of his congressional seat and public humiliation — would send a clear message that such conduct will not be tolerated,” the lawyers wrote.

A federal judge on Long Island is scheduled to decide Santos’ sentence during a court hearing April 25.

The once-rising Republican, who represented parts of Queens and Long Island, served barely a year in office before he was ousted by his House colleagues in 2023, just the sixth congressperson ever expelled in the chamber’s history.

Santos’ political demise came after it was revealed that he had fabricated much of his life story, leading to questions about how the political unknown had funded his winning campaign.

The now-36-year-old cast himself as a wealthy businessman who had graduated from top colleges, worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio. In truth, he was struggling financially and faced eviction.

Santos admitted in August that he duped voters, deceived donors and stole the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family members, to make donations to his congressional campaign.

He was initially due to be sentenced in February, but a judge granted him a three-month reprieve to come up with more than half a million dollars in court fines.

As part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and $205,000 in forfeiture.

Santos’ lawyers said at the time that he had little more than $1,000 in liquid assets and needed more time to build his newly launched podcast “Pants on Fire” in order to begin paying off the debt.

Prosecutors maintain Santos profited handsomely from his infamy, arguing he has earned more than $800,000 from appearances on the video-sharing website Cameo and from a new documentary since his expulsion from Congress.

Two of Santos’ campaign staffers have also pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection to the campaign financing scheme.

Sam Miele, his former campaign fundraiser, was sentenced in March to one year and one day in federal prison. He admitted to impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide and charging donors’ credit cards without authorization while raising campaign cash for Santos.

Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, admitted to filing bogus campaign finance reports filled with fake donors and a fake $500,000 personal loan from Santos himself.

The embellishments helped the campaign hit fundraising thresholds needed to qualify for financial backing from the national Republican Party. Marks is due to be sentenced in May.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

As markets implode, US trading partners puzzle over whether there's room for negotiations

2025-04-07 18:13 Last Updated At：18:51

BANGKOK (AP) — The impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’sblast of tariff hikes was reverberating across world markets Monday as America’s trading partners puzzled over whether there is room for negotiating better deals.

Several countries said they were sending trade officials to Washington to try to talk through the crisis, which has cast uncertainty over the global economic outlook, hammered markets and left U.S. allies wondering about the value of their ties with the world's largest economy.

However, Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, was defiant as he arrived at a meeting of European Union trade ministers in Luxembourg, saying the premise of the wide-ranging tariffs was “nonsense” and that attempts by individual countries to win exemptions haven’t worked in the past.

It's important for the EU to stick together, he said. That “means being clear that we are in a strong position — America is in a position of weakness.”

China, which hit back Friday at Washington with 34% tariffs on U.S. products and other retaliatory moves, accused the U.S. of failing to play fair.

“Putting ‘America First’ over international rules is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying,” Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters.

The ruling Communist Party struck a note of confidence even as markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai crumpled. “The sky won't fall,” declared The People’s Daily, the party's official mouthpiece. “Faced with the indiscriminate punches of U.S. taxes, we know what we are doing and we have tools at our disposal.”

Leading big drops in many markets, Hong Kong’s stock benchmark, the Hang Seng, plunged 13.2%. The Shanghai Composite index, meanwhile, lost 7.3% despite reported moves by regulators to staunch the losses.

China’s Commerce Ministry said officials met with representatives of 20 American businesses including Tesla and GE Healthcare over the weekend and urged them to take “concrete actions” to address the tariffs issue.

During the meeting, Ling Ji, a vice minister of commerce, promised that China will remain open to foreign investment, according to the readout by the ministry.

South Korea’s Trade Ministry said its top negotiator, Inkyo Cheong, will visit Washington this week to express Seoul’s concerns over the 25% tariffs on Korean goods and discuss ways to mitigate the damage to South Korean businesses, which include major automakers and steel makers.

Pakistan also planned to send a delegation to Washington this month to try negotiate over the 29% tariffs on its exports to the U.S., officials said. The prime minister ordered Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to assess the tariff's potential impact on Pakistan's fragile economy and draw up recommendations.

The U.S. imports around $5 billion worth of textiles and other products each year from Pakistan, which heavily relies on loans from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysia’s Trade Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said his country will seek to forge a united response from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Trump's sweeping tariffs.

As chair of the 10-nation body this year, Malaysia will lead a meeting Thursday in its capital Kuala Lumpur to discuss broader implications of the trade war on regional trade and investment, Zafrul told reporters.

“We are looking at the investment flows, macroeconomic stability and ASEAN's coordinated response to this tariff issue,” Zafrul said. He denied reports Malaysia had imposed a 47% tariff on imports from the U.S., saying the actual average Malaysian tariff on American exports is 5.6%.

He said that he had met with the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia to try to clarify how the U.S. came up with its 24% tariff.

Indonesia, one of the region's biggest economies, said it would work with businesses to increase its imports of U.S. wheat, cotton, oil and gas to help reduce its trade surplus, which was $18 billion in 2024.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto told a news conference that Indonesia will not retaliate against the new 32% tariff on Indonesian exports, but would use diplomacy to seek mutually beneficial solutions.

Some Southeast Asian neighbors, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, face tariffs of over 40%, giving Indonesia a slight advantage, he noted.

“For Indonesia, it is also another opportunity as its market is huge in America,” Hartoto said. He said Indonesia would buy U.S.-made components for several national strategic projects, including refineries.

Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report.