A former marketing campaign fundraiser for ex- U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to 1 12 months and at some point in jail for impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide whereas elevating marketing campaign money for the disgraced New York Republican.
Sam Miele pleaded responsible in 2023 to a single rely of federal wire fraud for his position within the legal case that led to Santos’ expulsion from workplace.
The 28-year-old New Jersey native admitted that in 2021 he solicited donations beneath the identify Dan Meyer, then-chief of workers to U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who went on to serve lower than a 12 months as Home speaker earlier than leaving Congress in 2023.
Prosecutors stated Miele’s impersonation included organising a dummy e-mail handle resembling Meyer’s identify whereas reaching out to over a dozen donors.
Miele additionally acknowledged he dedicated entry system fraud by charging bank cards with out authorization to ship cash to the campaigns of Santos and different political candidates, and for his personal private use. That fraud totaled about $100,000, prosecutors have stated.
Miele confronted greater than two years in jail however his legal professionals, in a courtroom submitting forward of Friday’s listening to, argued that he ought to be sentenced to probation or home arrest.
They argued that Miele had no prior legal document, shortly acknowledged his wrongdoing and cooperated with investigators.
His legal professionals additionally cited dozens of letters of help from household and pals, saying he had allowed his ambition to reach politics to “overwhelm his good judgment, common sense and the ethical principles.”
“Sam Miele is a young man who made a bad mistake,” they wrote. “But his criminal conduct is not indicative of the person he is. Rather, it represents a complete departure from what has otherwise been a young life marked by integrity, kindness and service to others.”
Prosecutors, of their sentencing memo, beneficial a sentence beneath federal pointers, which they stated referred to as for 27 to 33 months in jail.
Miele, in his plea deal, agreed to pay about $109,000 in restitution, to forfeit one other $69,000 and to make a $470,000 fee to a marketing campaign contributor.
Miele was one among two marketing campaign aides to achieve a plea deal within the federal probe into Santos’ successful marketing campaign.
Nancy Marks, his former marketing campaign treasurer, pleaded responsible to a fraud conspiracy cost. She faces sentencing in Could.
Santos, for his half, is because of be sentenced subsequent month after pleading responsible final August to wire fraud and aggravated id theft, simply weeks earlier than he was to face trial final 12 months.
The 36-year-old admitted he stole a number of folks’s bank card numbers and charged them for donations to his marketing campaign, used marketing campaign money on designer clothes and different private bills, falsely collected unemployment advantages whereas working and lied about his private wealth in a monetary disclosure to Congress.
When he entered his responsible plea, Santos blamed ambition for clouding his judgment.
The then-political unknown gained notoriety for flipping a congressional district that lined a rich swath of Queens and Lengthy Island in 2022.
However his fantastical lies about his wealth and background had been shortly debunked.
Amongst different issues, Santos lied about having a profession at prime Wall Avenue companies and a school diploma. He additionally falsely claimed his mom died within the 9/11 assaults and that his grandparents fled the Holocaust.
Lower than a 12 months after taking workplace, Santos was expelled from the U.S. Home, changing into simply the sixth ever booted from the chamber.
