President Trump said Friday he commuted former New York Republican Congressman George Santos’ prison sentence for fraud.
In a post on Truth Social, the president said Santos has been “horribly mistreated” in prison and will be released immediately.
Santos surrendered himself to a federal prison in New Jersey on July 25 to start serving a more than seven-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges.
“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!” the president’s post said.
The ex-Long Island congressman has been held at the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton. In April, he was sentenced to 87 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $373,949.97 in fines and restitution.
After his sentencing, Santos released a lengthy statement on social media that said, in part, “I believe that 7 years is an over the top politically influenced sentence and I implore that President Trump gives me a chance to prove I’m more than the mistakes I’ve made.”
Santos was elected to serve New York’s 3rd congressional district in 2022. The next year, he was expelled from Congress after a House Ethics Committee report found “substantial evidence” he violated the law.
Santos was accused of exaggerating or lying about parts of his backstory shortly after taking office. He was charged with defrauding voters and donors in his district, which includes Nassau County and parts of Queens.
Accusations against him ranged from falsely claiming he was a multi-millionaire to forging a diploma from Baruch College. He was also accused of soliciting donations to a fictitious nonprofit and engaging in credit card fraud to steal from elderly and cognitively impaired donors.
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