Wow. Talk about a major league prison sentence for misuse of campaign funds.
As that’s precisely what just happened with disgraced former Congressional representative George Santos.
Santos, who was accused of misappropriating significant sums of campaign funds, was recently sentence to 87 months in prison, or just over seven years.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York issued an official statement from the attorney office, highlighting all the reasons why the punishment for Santos was ostensibly justified.
“Today, George Santos was finally held accountable for the mountain of lies, theft, and fraud he perpetrated. For the defendant, it was judgment day, and for his many victims including campaign donors, political parties, government agencies, elected bodies, his own family members, and his constituents, it is justice,” Durham declared.
Unfortunately, that description seems applicable to more than one politician.
“To Mr. Santos and other dishonest individuals of that ilk, who lie, steal identities and commit frauds to get elected to public office, this prosecution speaks to the truth that my Office is committed to aggressively rooting out public corruption and that public officials who criminally abuse our electoral process will end up in a federal prison,” Durham added.
Fair point … but if only it appeared evenly applied.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Raia continued in her criticism of Santos, chastising his “repeated criminal dishonesty.”
“Today, former United States Congressman George Santos is held accountable for his repeated criminal dishonesty – financing his election campaign with ill-obtained funds, stealing COVID unemployment benefits, and providing materially false information in his financial disclosure. Santos abused his authority to garner illicit donations and campaign support; ultimately betraying the public’s trust and violating our democratic systems,” Raia raged.
Raia was also sure to highlight the power of the FBI in terms of addressing major political corruption.
“May today’s sentencing emphasize the FBI’s continued commitment to dismantling any fraudulent scheme designed to unlawfully benefit those in positions of power,” Raia proclaimed.
Santos will reportedly head to prison on July 25 to begin serving his 87-month sentence.
In addition, he was also ordered to pay nearly $600,000 for various reasons, including $370,000 of restitution.
The length of Santos’s sentence actually should not be surprising, considering the four months that Steve Bannon served.
“Bannon was convicted in July 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress and was sentenced to four months at FCI Danbury in Connecticut. He was indicted after refusing to comply with subpoenas from House Jan. 6 select committee investigators seeking his communications with then-President Donald Trump following the 2020 presidential election,” CBS News reported.
Frankly, considering Bannon received four months for that, one can only imagine the sentences doled out to other parties.
Author: Ofelia Thornton
