Monday, August 19th:
*Hearing (@ 3pm ET) - NY -
U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York vs.
Rep. George Anthony Devolder Santos (34/now 36) indicted &
charged (5/8/23) & arrested & arraigned (5/10/23) with 7 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of money laundering, 1 count of theft of public funds ($24K) & 2 counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. Plead not guilty. Released (5/10/23) on $500K bond. Surrendered his passports & has travel restrictions.
Superseding Indictment (10/10/23) additionally
charged & arraigned (10/27/23) with 1 count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, 2 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), 2 counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, 2 counts of aggravated identity theft & 1 count of access device fraud. Plead not guilty.
U.S. representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, serving since Jan. 7, 2023. Santos was expelled from Congress in December, 2023 after an ethics investigation found “overwhelming evidence” he had broken the law & exploited his public position for his own profit.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), & Anne T. Donnelly, District Attorney, Nassau County, announced the charges.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Integrity Section, the Long Island Criminal Division & the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan Harris, Anthony Bagnuola, & Laura Zuckerwise, along with Trial Attorneys Jolee Porter & Jacob Steiner, are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Rachel Friedman. Senior Litigation Counsel Victor R. Salgado of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section provided substantial contributions to the prosecution.
Trial set to begin on 9/9/24 with jury selection. 12 jurors & 6 alternates will be selected. Jurors will be anonymous. Trial to take about 3 weeks.
Judge Joanna Seybert presiding. Defense attorneys Robert Fantone & Joe Murray.
Case & court info from 5/9/23 thru 1/23/24 reference post #119 here:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/t...ith-13-criminal-counts-may-2023.677448/page-6
6/4/24 Update: A grand jury on Tuesday returned a second superseding indictment against Santos in the Eastern District of New York. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the new superseding indictment "does not allege new criminal conduct, charge the defendant with new crimes or make new substantive allegations against the defendant." Instead, Peace said in the court document the added indictment would be to correct Scrivener's errors & make other minor changes ahead of the anticipated Sept. 9 trial. Peace said the second superseding indictment is "materially indistinguishable from the first superseding indictment." Next status hearing on 8/13/24.
8/13/24 Update: The prosecution asked to submit his campaign lies as evidence, saying he "deliberately leveraged them to perpetuate the criminal schemes." The lies include: Graduating from Baruch College and New York University; being an accomplished college volleyball player; having grandparents who survived the Holocaust; working at Citigroup & Goldman Sachs; fabricating his family wealth & stealing from campaign contributors. Prosecutors also petitioned Judge Joanna Seybert to allow statements from Santos' former campaign manager, Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty last year to falsifying campaign finance reports. They also asked the judge to block Santos from claiming at trial he's the victim of vindictive prosecution & that he's already been punished enough. The judge said she'll decide those issues as they come up at trial. Prosecutors also claimed Santos' lawyers may be withholding evidence. The defense turned over roughly 400 pages of documents, compared to prosecutors' 1.3 million pages. Santos' defense team asked for a partially anonymous jury, citing the "extensive & largely negative media coverage," and adding, "jurors could face harassment or intimidation." The judge agreed. Next month, 348 prospective jurors -- whittled down from 850 -- will report for the selection of 12, along with 6 alternates. The defense wanted each & every one to fill out a 137-item jury questionnaire. The judge dismissed the questionnaire, calling it offensive & said she favors one-on-one questioning. Judge Seybert on Tuesday granted Santos’ request for a partially anonymous jury in which the individual jurors’ identities will be known only by the judge, the two sides & their attorneys. Prosecutors had previously said they didn’t object to the measure, given the case’s high-profile nature. Judge Seybert confirmed that jury selection starts 9/9/24.
8/16/24 Update: A request came Friday afternoon in a letter from prosecutors who said they & defense attorneys sought a hearing but did not say why. The same letter also requested an extension of time for the defense to respond to pretrial motions. The judge granted both requests & set the hearing for 3pm at U.S. District Court in Central Islip on 8/19/24. The purpose of the hearing was not immediately clear. It is speculated that Santos is expected to plead guilty to “multiple counts” of his sprawling fraud indictment at a hearing Monday, according to a source familiar with the case.
