Santos to Begin 7-Year Fraud Sentence  07/25 06:17

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos is expected to 
begin serving a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for the fraud charges that 
got him ousted from Congress.

   The New York Republican pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and 
aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people's 
identities in order to fund his congressional campaign.

   He must report to federal prison before 2 p.m. It's unclear where he'll 
serve his time, though a federal judge has recommended that Santos be housed in 
a facility in the Northeast.

   Santos and his lawyers declined to comment to The Associated Press ahead of 
him reporting to prison. The federal Bureau of Prisons, meanwhile, said it 
doesn't discuss the status of inmates until they're officially in custody.

   As Friday approached, though, 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 told Tucker Carlson 
during an interview. "I'm not built for this."

   In a Thursday interview with Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-owned news 
organization, he said he'll serve his sentence in a minimum-security prison 
"camp" that he described as a "big upgrade" from the medium-security lockup he 
was initially assigned to.

   On X this week, Santos posted a video clip of Frank Sinatra's "My Way."

   "And now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain," the singer 
aptly croons.

   Other 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 
said on X. "If anything comes out suggesting otherwise, consider it a lie ... 
full stop."

   In April, a federal judge declined to give Santos a lighter two-year 
sentence that he sought, saying she was unconvinced he was truly remorseful. In 
the weeks before his sentencing, Santos said he was "profoundly sorry" for his 
crimes, but he also complained frequently that he was a victim of a political 
witch hunt and prosecutorial overreach.

   Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a wealthy district representing parts 
of Queens and Long Island for the GOP. But he served for less than a year and 
became just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues after it 
was revealed he had fabricated much of his life story.

   During his winning campaign, Santos painted himself as a successful business 
owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms when, in reality, he was 
struggling financially.

   He also falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a college he never 
attended and referred to himself as "a proud American Jew" before insisting he 
meant that he was "Jew-ish" because his Brazilian mother's family had a Jewish 
background.

   The cascade of lies eventually led to congressional and criminal inquiries 
into how Santos funded his campaign and, ultimately, his political downfall.

   Since his ouster from Congress, Santos has been making a living hosting a 
podcast called "Pants on Fire with George Santos" and hawking personalized 
video messages on Cameo.

   He has also been holding out hope that his unwavering support for President 
Donald Trump might help him win a last-minute reprieve, though the White House 
said this week that it "will not comment on the existence or nonexistence" of 
any clemency request.