The prosecutor's office added a new charge of fraud, money laundering, making false and inaccurate statements during the election campaign, and theft of public funds against Santos, whose trial is ongoing.
The indictment said Santos stole payment information of supporters who donated to his election campaign and withdrew a total of 44 thousand dollars from their accounts.
The prosecutor's office said some of the money was used to inflate the campaign fund and the rest was sent to Santos' personal account.
RELEASED ON BAIL PENDING TRIAL
In the 23-count indictment, Santos denied all charges against him, described the accusations against him as a "witch hunt" and announced that he would not resign from office.
Santos, who was detained in New York in May, was released on $500,000 bail pending trial.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES INVESTIGATION
In the November 8, 2022 midterm elections, Santos, a Republican elected as a member of Congress from New York, claimed throughout his campaign that he graduated from Baruch College and New York University (NYU).
NYU officials announced that there was no record of Santos in the university archives. Santos' campaign claims that he had worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup on Wall Street were also denied.
During the election period, Santos, who claimed to be an "honorable Jew" but turned out to be a Catholic, said, "I am Catholic. I said 'I am considered Jewish' because I learned that my mother's side of my family is of Jewish origin."
The fact that a group raised money for his election campaign without being registered with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the emergence of information about the sudden increase in his personal wealth in the 2020-2022 period raised allegations that Santos may have neglected financing laws.
On January 31, George Santos announced that he would temporarily step down from his newly appointed positions on the House of Representatives Small Business Committee and the Space and Technology Committee "until things settle down".
Derek Myers, who said he had worked in Santos' office for a short time, claimed that the lawmaker had sexually harassed him.
Santos had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for some time due to the allegations against him.
