George Santos pleads guilty to two corruption charges

[thewayne]

As expected, 11-month Representative and serial fabulist Santos produced guilty pleas in court today, and interestingly, also produced a seemingly sincere apology to his constituents for his behavior. Now, maybe it was a show for the judge to try to get a lighter sentence, but he's facing some serious time: "Santos is set to be sentenced on Feb. 7. He could face as much as 22 years in prison, and waived his right to appeal any sentence less than 95 months - just under eight years - as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors."

Eight years! Santos plead to "one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, the latter carrying a mandatory two-year prison sentence", so I'm not quite sure how the 95 months works into this. I guess we'll find out in February.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/expelled-former-rep-santos-plead-guilty-corruption-charges-source-says-2024-08-19/

Comments

[silveradept]

I suspect the aggravating factors in the case include the amount and widespread-ness of the fraud and the identity theft, and the possible maximum is rarely what actually gets meted out, especially for someone who puts in a plea. We'll see what the judge sentences him to. It would be nice if the judge provided some additional harshness because this was someone who was in a position of public trust and abused it, but that would probably have to be leveled against any politician who manages to get caught.

[thewayne]

I think it's his first offence, not completely sure on that, and he pled, saving cost/hassle of a trial.  How much that will affect the sentencing paradigm we shall see in February.

[silveradept]

Yep. Plenty of mitigating factors, but it would be good to have some aggravating ones, too.