Fabulist George Santos stages last-ditch defense (2025)

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Former New York Republican congressmanGeorge Santos wrote a letter pleading with the judge overseeing his upcoming sentencing for fraud charges to take it easy on him.

Santos, 36, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last year.

The Department of Justice has been seeking a seven-year prison sentence for the ex-lawmaker, who admitted to stealing the identities of close to a dozen people and deceiving donors into giving him campaign cash he would later spend on himself.

He served about a year in Congress, but was expelled in December 2023 after a House Ethics Committee report uncovered his sweeping misconduct.

The report found Santos had beenfunneling political donations into his personal bank accounts to fund Botox treatments, designer clothes, casino holidays, and OnlyFans fees.

But just days before his sentencing hearing on Friday, Santos has struck a more humble and conciliatory tone in an attempt to escape a harsh prison sentence.

'Every sunrise since that plea has carried the same realization: I did this, me. I am responsible,' Santos wrote to the judge on Saturday.

'But saying I’m sorry doesn’t require me to sit quietly while these prosecutors try to drop an anvil on my head,' the former lawmaker added.

The fabulist claimed that he is 'profoundly sorry' for his actions and that the seven-year prison sentence sought by the feds is 'ridiculous.'

Federal prosecutors last week argued in a letter to the judge that Santos is undeserving of a light sentence, writing that the New Yorker 'remains unrepentant for his crimes.'

In the feds' letter they attach numerous posts on X in which Santos denied some wrongdoing, despite having admitted in court his guilt.

One of the citations includes a post from Santos calling the Department of Justice a 'cabal of pedophiles.'

The file also contains Santos responding to a user on X asking if he used campaign funds to buy Hermès.

The lawmaker responded: 'That's a false statement that has been passed on as truth!'

However, the prosecutors also note how 'Santos did use campaign contributions made to Redstone Strategies LLC to make luxury purchases at, among other stores, Hermès.'

'Put plainly, Santos is not genuinely remorseful, despite accepting responsibility as part of his allocution,' the prosecution wrote. 'If he were, his actions would be different.'

Santos claimed in his letter to the judge that his 'colorful' commentary online is now being inappropriately 'repurposed as a sword against me.'

'Contesting the severity of a proposed sentence is not the same as contesting guilt, and punishing protected speech because it questions punishment should trouble anyone who values fair prosecution over personal vindication,' he wrote.

'If I were the criminal mastermind they portray, I would be the clumsiest in modern memory: leaving a trail of screenshots pointing directly back to myself.'

Since leaving Congress Santos has began his own podcast called 'Pants On Fire with George Santos' where he dishes on politics and pop culture.

He has also started a Cameo account where he sends users personalized videos, sometimes under his drag persona Kitara Ravache.

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