The Countdown To Congressman George Santos' Prison Term Has Finally Begun

His Campaign Treasurer Was Arrested, Plead Guilty

To put more pressure on GOP Rep. George Santos— who’s facing 13 criminal charges (with more to come)— the Eastern District of New York prosecutors orchestrated an arrest of and guilty plea from his campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, yesterday. She pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and she implicated Santos. Her plea agreement includes as much as 4 years in prison. She told the judge that she and Santos had submitted false campaign finance reports, manufactured to attract other donors.

It’s not likely Santos' case will ever be argued before a jury; he's in the middle of his own extended plea bargain— to keep his prison time to a minimum and to hold onto the Portuguese language book and movie rights. The feds already gave him a hard no on teh English language rights.

What the political establishment— both parties and both in DC and New York— wants is for him to resign from Congress so that the two Long Island political parties can avoid contentious primary battles, allowing the local party machines to hand the nomination to their favorite candidate— former Congressman Tom Suozzi by the Dems and state Senator Jack Martins, who Suozzi already beat the last time they faced off, by the Republicans. Right now there are 9 Republicans already raising money for a primary and another 9 talking about jumping in. And there are 6 Democrats already in the race and at least 3 others talking about it.

Marks was paid nearly a quarter million dollars for her services as Santos’ campaign treasurer. She buried his financial shenanigans— including money coming from the Kremlin, money going into his own pockets and fake donors listed to cover up for large sums from criminal sources— and is likely to testify against him if the case ever comes to trial. She waived her rights to be indicted by a grand jury, a sure mark she's cooperating with the prosecutors. "One particularly mysterious pattern," reported the NY Times, "was the appearance of dozens of expenses for $199.99— just pennies below the threshold at which receipts are required. Many of these were made out to 'Anonymous.' In subsequent amendments, those payments disappeared from the ledger. But the campaign continued to spend money without disclosing where it went, a practice that led to more than $365,000 in unexplained campaign expenses."

Santos, who is scheduled to appear before the same judge on Oct 27, has tried to blame his troubles on Marks and claims, incredulously, that she “went rogue.” Marks, who didn't say a word to reporters, was released on an unsecured $100,000 bond. Her sentencing isn't scheduled until April, 2024, another indication that she made a deal with the feds.

Yesterday, the NY Post reported that “Among other things, prosecutors appear keen on learning more about the origins of a $700,000 loan Santos claimed to have given his campaign. Marks testified yesterday about $500,000 that was made up but no one asked her if that was the same as the $700,000 that shows up in his campaign finance reports.