George Santos' attorneys seek to dismiss parts of his criminal case
Rep. George Santos, seen here leaving the federal courthouse in Central Islip last December, was expelled from Congress earlier that month. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Attorneys for former Congressman George Santos are asking a court to dismiss parts of the criminal case against him, including charges of identity theft and theft of government funds, according to a legal memorandum filed Saturday.
The memorandum is part of a filing by Santos’ attorneys that spans 192 pages, including a transcript, letters and other documents. The Santos attorneys argue that even if what has been alleged were true, in charging him with identity theft, the facts are insufficient to establish that a crime has been committed.
The filing also claims that several charges are unconstitutionally vague, duplicative or suffer from other legal deficiencies.
Santos, now 35, surrendered last year and pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with various schemes, including fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits authorized during the coronavirus pandemic and lying on his congressional financial disclosure forms.
He is also accused of filing fraudulent fundraising reports to get support for his congressional campaign and stealing thousands of dollars from his campaign contributors by charging their credit cards without authorization. Both a fundraiser and his campaign treasurer have pleaded guilty to related federal indictments.
In the latest filing, Santos’ attorneys also seek certain evidence the government has against him, including notes of witness interviews, as well as a bill of particulars, meaning more specifics about what a defendant is alleged to have done wrong. The evidence the government has turned over so far "is extremely voluminous," the memorandum says, and only if the government is more specific can Santos’ attorneys sufficiently understand the allegations. That specificity, the memorandum says, "is necessary to adequately prepare his defense."
And in seeking dismissal of the aggravated identity theft charges, Santos’ attorneys cite a unanimous 2023 ruling, in Dubin v. United States, from the U.S. Supreme Court narrowing the identity theft statute. That case involved Medicaid overbilling, and the court ruled that the allegedly fraudulent use of someone else’s name in and of itself can’t just be a mention — in the high court case, the biller including each patient’s name while overbilling Medicaid — but must be at the crux.
Citing that precedent, Santos’ attorneys argue that his alleged fraudulent use of names in a Federal Election Commission filing in which he is accused of falsely inflating his campaign’s fundraising totals wouldn’t constitute identity theft, nor would his alleged overcharging of donors’ credit cards.
The criminal charges against Santos, who was elected in November 2022 to represent western Nassau and a sliver of Queens, came months after The New York Times exposed him as a liar and fabulist.
Santos was expelled from Congress last December after a House Ethics report found he had engaged in "unlawful conduct" and knowingly deceived constituents "for his own personal profit."
Neither Santos’ attorneys — Andrew Mancilla and Robert Fantone of Manhattan and Joseph Murray of Great Neck, who signed the filing — nor the government, represented by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, could be reached Saturday for comment.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
