Full List of Grand Jury Charges Against George Santos

New York Republican Representative George Santos was hit with a 13-count indictment on Wednesday morning after facing months of criticism for lies he made during his campaign.

The U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York announced the indictment on Wednesday and said that Santos was arrested and is expected to be arraigned this afternoon at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.

The full list of charges was listed in the indictment released by the U.S. Attorney's office and included "seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives."

The announcement of the charges comes as Santos continues to face criticism and questions over his past experiences and campaign finances. Santos admitted to lying about several aspects of his resume during an interview with the New York Post in December saying, "I'm embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume."

The Nassau County District Attorney's office also previously said it was looking into Santos' lies while the FBI was investigating allegations that the congressman took money from a GoFundMe page that was started to raise money for a U.S. Navy veteran.

In December, The New York Times initially reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York was investigating some of Santos's financial dealings.

"This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations," United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. "Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.

"He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives."

Newsweek reached out to Santos's lawyer via email for comment.

Michael McAuliffe, a former elected state attorney and federal prosecutor, told Newsweek on Wednesday that "The newly unsealed Santos Indictment in the Eastern District of New York is a garden-like collection of separate, but similar, fraud schemes.

"The schemes, which include federal campaign finance fraud, Cares Act (COVID relief) related fraud, unemployment benefits fraud, and congressional statement disclosure fraud, are all very consistent in that they involve specific factual misrepresentations.

"The indictment describes the different fraud schemes and then charges Santos with various crimes in the execution of those schemes. It appears highly likely that the evidence against Santos includes cooperating witnesses, a detailed paper trail of written communications, and financial transaction records," McAuliffe said.

"The federal authorities moved with speed and focus with regard to the allegations of Rep. Santos's misconduct. The rationale, in part, might be that he represents an ongoing criminal threat––an allegedly habitual approach to lying and victimizing others to enrich himself."

On Tuesday night, the Associated Press first reported that Santos may be criminally charged and when reached by phone, Santos told the outlet, "You're the first to call me about this."

"This is news to me," Santos said.

Richard Serafini, a criminal defense attorney and former Department of Justice Criminal Division senior trial attorney, told Newsweek on Wednesday that Santos has been charged for what is "essentially a fraud scheme."

"The allegations are, he caused lies to be told to perspective campaign contributors. Based upon those lies they contributed to what they thought was his campaign [and] he diverted funds from those contributions to his own use. So, that's the essence of the wire fraud," Serafini said. "The money laundering is that once the money hit the initial account—the corporate account that he was using—then the money was then moved from account to account."

Serafini also said that if this case does eventually go to trial, he does not expect Santos's defense team to allow him on the witness stand.

"Pretty much everybody that's ever heard of him has an opinion of him as being a pathological liar," Serafini said.

Update 05/10/23, 12:06 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Richard Serafini.

Update 05/10/23, 11:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.