Santos faces new charges over alleged lies and fraud

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed a significant array of new charges against Representative George Santos, Republican of New York, accusing him of new criminal schemes, including stealing the identities and credit cards of donors to his campaign.

The new accusations were made in a 23-count superseding indictment that laid out how Santos had charged his donors’ credit cards “repeatedly, without their authorization,” distributing the money to his and other candidates’ campaigns and to his own bank account.

The new indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York added 10 charges against Santos: conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and falsifying records to obstruct the commission.

The updated indictment came five days after his campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and admitted to her role in fraudulently reporting a fictional $500,000 loan that Santos claimed to have made to his campaign.

A lawyer for Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Santos is seeking reelection in 2024. On Tuesday, Thomas R. Suozzi, the Long Island Democrat whose failed bid for governor of New York in 2022 may have helped clear the way for Santos to get to Congress, announced on Tuesday that he would run to replace Santos and take back his seat in the House of Representatives.