Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos is predicted to start serving a seven-year jail sentence on Friday for the fraud prices that bought him ousted from Congress.
The New York Republican pleaded responsible final summer season to federal wire fraud and aggravated identification theft prices for deceiving donors and stealing folks’s identities in an effort to fund his congressional marketing campaign.
He should report back to federal jail earlier than 2 p.m. It’s unclear the place he’ll serve his time, although a federal decide has really helpful that Santos be housed in a facility within the Northeast.
Santos and his legal professionals declined to remark forward of his reporting to jail. The federal Bureau of Prisons, in the meantime, mentioned it doesn’t focus on the standing of inmates till they’re formally in custody.
As Friday approached, although, the loquacious former lawmaker, who turned 37 on Tuesday, wasn’t shy about sharing his morbid fears about life behind bars.
“I’m not trying to be overdramatic here. I’m just being honest with you. I look at this as practically a death sentence,” Santos instructed Tucker Carlson throughout an interview. “I’m not built for this.”
On X this week, Santos posted a video clip of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
“And now, the tip is close to. And so I face the ultimate curtain,” the singer aptly croons.
Different posts took a darker tone.
“I’m heading to prison, folks and I need you to hear this loud and clear: I’m not suicidal. I’m not depressed. I have no intentions of harming myself, and I will not willingly engage in any sexual activity while I’m in there,” he mentioned on X. “If something comes out suggesting in any other case, think about it a lie … full cease.”
In April, a federal decide declined to provide Santos a lighter two-year sentence that he sought, saying she was unconvinced he was really remorseful. Within the weeks earlier than his sentencing, Santos mentioned he was “profoundly sorry” for his crimes, however he additionally complained incessantly that he was a sufferer of a political witch hunt and prosecutorial overreach.
Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a rich district representing elements of Queens and Lengthy Island for the GOP. However he served for lower than a 12 months and have become simply the sixth member of the Home to be ousted by colleagues after it was revealed he had fabricated a lot of his life story.
Throughout his profitable marketing campaign, Santos painted himself as a profitable enterprise proprietor who labored at prestigious Wall Avenue corporations when, in actuality, he was struggling financially.
He additionally falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a university he by no means attended and referred to himself as “a proud American Jew” earlier than insisting he meant that he was “Jew-ish” as a result of his Brazilian mom’s household had a Jewish background.
The cascade of lies ultimately led to congressional and prison inquiries into how Santos funded his marketing campaign and, finally, his political downfall.
Since his ouster from Congress, Santos has been making a residing internet hosting a podcast known as “Pants on Fire with George Santos” and hawking customized video messages on Cameo.
He has additionally been holding out hope that his unwavering help for President Donald Trump would possibly assist him win a last-minute reprieve, although the White Home mentioned this week that it “will not comment on the existence or nonexistence” of any clemency request.
