Representative George Santos indicted on ten new federal charges

New York Republican Rep. George Santos faces new federal charges related to allegedly inflating his campaign finance reports and stealing the identities of his donors.

This Tuesday the Department of Justice announced a new round of accusations against Santos that bring the total number of charges to 23. The new dozen crimes are part of an alleged plan by the representative to increase his campaign's fundraising figures in reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) with the aim of qualifying for a program that supports GOP candidates.

The indictment also alleges that Santos stole financial information from his donors to make multiple unauthorized charges to their credit cards and disguise those additional contributions from fake donors.

"Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign. Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen," said New York U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

"This Office will relentlessly pursue criminal charges against anyone who uses the electoral process as an opportunity to defraud the public and our government institutions," he added.

The previous charges

Earlier this year, 13 charges were filed against Santos including wire fraud, money laundering, false statements before the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds. In May, the representative pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on $500,000 bail.

It should be noted that the legislator has also been in the crosshairs of the House Committee on Ethics after it was discovered that Santos made numerous false statements about his biography, work history, criminal record, financial situation, ethnicity, religion and other matters, both to the public and in his personal life.