George Santos’ ex-fundraiser is sentenced to a year in prison for wire fraud
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A former campaign fundraiser for ex- U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to one year and one day in prison for impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide while raising cash for the disgraced New York Republican.
Sam Miele, speaking briefly in federal court on Long Island, apologized to everyone he had “let down,” including family and friends.
“What I did was wrong. Plain and simple,” he said, vowing he would never be involved with the criminal justice system again.
But when pushed by Judge Joanna Seybert to explain why he had committed such brazen fraud despite his privileged upbringing, Miele only responded that he had been a “different person” back then.
“It was a terrible mistake,“ the 28-year-old New Jersey native, who graduated from St. John’s University in Queens, said. “That’s all I can say about that.”
Miele declined to comment after the hearing, but his lawyer said he believed the sentence was “fair and appropriate” and his client was looking to put the case behind him.
“This is what happens when you associate with the wrong people,” attorney Kevin Marino said.
Miele pleaded guilty in 2023 to a single count of federal wire fraud for his role in the criminal case that led to Santos’ expulsion from office.
He admitted that in 2021 he solicited donations under the name Dan Meyer, then-chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who went on to serve less than a year as House speaker before leaving Congress in 2023.
Prosecutors said Miele’s impersonation included setting up a dummy email address resembling Meyer’s name while reaching out to over a dozen donors.
Miele also acknowledged he committed access device fraud by charging donors’ credit cards without authorization to send money to the campaigns of Santos and other political candidates, and for his own personal use. That fraud totaled about $100,000, prosecutors have said.
Miele faced more than two years in prison, but Marino argued in court on Friday that he should be sentenced to home confinement, along with “substantial“ community service and therapy.
He said Miele was “deserving of leniency and a second chance” because he promptly accepted responsibility for his actions, gave “full-throated cooperation” in the government’s investigation of Santos and was willing to testify against his former boss.
“He’s remorseful beyond words,” Marino said. “His name is forever linked to a disgraced congressman. All he’s done is overshadowed by this.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Zuckerwise argued that a prison sentence was necessary to deter others in the campaign fundraising world from committing similar crimes.
“We’re here not just because of one mistake, but multiple mistakes,” she said, noting that an 85-year-old suffering from memory loss was among Miele’s victims.
Miele, in his plea deal, agreed to pay about $109,000 in restitution, to forfeit another $69,000 and to make a $470,000 payment to a campaign contributor.
Miele was one of two campaign aides to reach a plea deal in the federal probe into Santos’ winning campaign.
Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge. She faces sentencing in May.
Santos, for his part, is due to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty last August to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, just weeks before he was to stand trial last year.
The 36-year-old admitted he stole multiple people’s credit card numbers and charged them for donations to his campaign, used campaign cash on designer clothing and other personal expenses, falsely collected unemployment benefits while working and lied about his personal wealth in a financial disclosure to Congress.
The then-political unknown gained notoriety for flipping a congressional district that covered a wealthy swath of Queens and Long Island in 2022.
But his fantastical lies about his wealth and background were quickly debunked.
Among other things, Santos lied about having a career at top Wall Street firms and a college degree. He also falsely claimed his mother died in the 9/11 attacks and that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.
Less than a year after taking office, Santos was expelled from the U.S. House, becoming just the sixth ever booted from the chamber.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press
