{"id":158315,"date":"2025-07-25T20:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/disgraced-former-u-s-rep-george-santos-to-begin-serving-his-7-year-fraud-sentence-pbs\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T20:00:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:00:56","slug":"disgraced-former-u-s-rep-george-santos-to-begin-serving-his-7-year-fraud-sentence-pbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/disgraced-former-u-s-rep-george-santos-to-begin-serving-his-7-year-fraud-sentence-pbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos to begin serving his 7-year fraud sentence – PBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Marcelo, Associated Press<\/span> <\/a> Philip Marcelo, Associated Press <\/a>
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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos is expected to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress.
The New York Republican pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges for deceiving donors and stealing people\u2019s identities in order to fund his congressional campaign.
He must report to federal prison before 2 p.m. It\u2019s unclear where he\u2019ll serve his time, though a federal judge has recommended that Santos be housed in a facility in the Northeast.
READ MORE:<\/strong> Ex-US Rep. George Santos sobbed as sentenced to over 7 years in prison for fraud and identity theft<\/a>
Santos and his lawyers repeatedly declined to comment to The Associated Press, and the federal Bureau of Prisons said it doesn\u2019t discuss the status of inmates until they\u2019re officially in custody.
In a Thursday interview with Al Arabiya, a Saudi state-owned news organization, Santos said he\u2019ll serve his sentence in a minimum-security prison \u201ccamp\u201d that he described as a \u201cbig upgrade\u201d from the medium-security lockup he was initially assigned to.
The ever-online Santos, who turned 37 on Tuesday, also hosted a farewell party for himself on the social media platform X on Thursday night.
\u201cWell, darlings\u2026The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed,\u201d he wrote in a post afterwards. \u201cFrom the halls of Congress to the chaos of cable news what a ride it\u2019s been! Was it messy? Always. Glamorous? Occasionally. Honest? I tried\u2026 most days.\u201d
In April, a federal judge declined to give Santos a lighter two-year sentence that he sought, saying she was unconvinced he was truly remorseful. In the weeks before his sentencing, Santos said he was \u201cprofoundly sorry\u201d for his crimes, but he also complained frequently that he was a victim of a political witch hunt and prosecutorial overreach.
Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a wealthy district representing parts of Queens and Long Island for the GOP. But he served for less than a year and became just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues after it was revealed he had fabricated much of his life story.
During his winning campaign, Santos painted himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms when, in reality, he was struggling financially.
He also falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a college he never attended and referred to himself as \u201ca proud American Jew\u201d before insisting he meant that he was \u201cJew-ish\u201d because his Brazilian mother\u2019s family had a Jewish background.
The cascade of lies eventually led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how Santos funded his campaign and, ultimately, his political downfall.
Since his ouster from Congress, Santos has been making a living hosting a podcast called \u201cPants on Fire with George Santos\u201d and hawking personalized video messages on Cameo.
He has also been holding out hope that his unwavering support for President Donald Trump might help him win a last-minute reprieve.
The White House said this week that it \u201cwill not comment on the existence or nonexistence\u201d of any clemency request.
In media appearances this month, the former lawmaker wasn\u2019t shy about sharing his morbid fears about life behind bars.
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be overdramatic here. I\u2019m just being honest with you. I look at this as practically a death sentence,\u201d Santos told Tucker Carlson during an interview. \u201cI\u2019m not built for this.\u201d
Other posts took a darker tone.
\u201cI\u2019m heading to prison, folks and I need you to hear this loud and clear: I\u2019m not suicidal. I\u2019m not depressed. I have no intentions of harming myself, and I will not willingly engage in any sexual activity while I\u2019m in there,\u201d he said on X. \u201cIf anything comes out suggesting otherwise, consider it a lie \u2026 full stop.\u201d
Safeguard the independent, trusted journalism millions rely on at PBS News Hour.
<\/use><\/svg>Left:<\/span> FILE PHOTO: Former New York congressman George Santos in 2024. (Theodore Parisienne\/New York Daily News\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
By<\/span> Philip Marcelo, Associated Press
By<\/span> Philip Marcelo, Associated Press
By<\/span> Philip Marcelo, Associated Press
By<\/span> Karen Matthews, Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press
 Philip Marcelo, Associated Press<\/span> <\/a> Philip Marcelo, Associated Press <\/a>
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Philip Marcelo, Associated Press Philip Marcelo, Associated Press Leave your feedbackNEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos is expected to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence on Friday for the fraud charges that got him ousted from Congress.The New York Republican pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}