The former campaign treasurer for George Santos was sentenced on May 28 to three years of probation for taking part in a fraud conspiracy tied to the former New York congressman’s campaign finances.
Nancy Marks pleaded guilty in October 2023 to charges of conspiring with a congressional candidate to commit wire fraud, make materially false statements, obstruct the administration of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and commit aggravated identity theft.
She faced as much as five years behind bars.
Prosecutors requested she serve 18 months in prison.
“With today’s guilty plea, Marks has admitted that she conspired ... to lie to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of the candidate’s campaign for New York’s Third Congressional District,” said Breon Peace, who was then the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement.
In addition, she admitted to falsely inflating the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent contributions and loans, Peace added.
Marks was also ordered to pay more than $178,000 in restitution.
“Marks engaged in criminal conduct intended to deceive and defraud the American public,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith in a statement.
“This guilty plea holds her responsible for those various fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations.”
According to the Department of Justice, Marks conspired with Santos to submit false reports to the Federal Election Commission to obtain campaign funds from the Republican National Committee, which required campaigns to raise $250,000 from third-party sources.
Santos represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District between Jan. 3 and Dec. 1, 2023.
He became the sixth member of Congress to be expelled.
A House Ethics Committee report alleged Santos “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct; ... and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act.”
The report also said that Santos “continues to flout his statutory financial disclosure obligations and has failed to correct countless errors and omissions in his past FD Statements, despite being repeatedly reminded by the ISC and the Committee of his requirement to do so.”
Santos was sentenced on April 25 to 87 months, or more than seven years, in prison on wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges.
He also has a history of fabricating his personal and professional life, such as falsely saying that he is Jewish, has ancestry that survived the Holocaust, and that he worked at Goldman Sachs.
Santos is set to begin his prison sentence in July.
