Republican Santos is ripe for wire fraud charges after election lies exposed: former prosecutor
Following an MSNBC report on New York Republican George Santos' attempts to brush aside proof that he lied his way to a U.S. House of Representatives election win, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade laid out possible avenues prosecutors could take to indict him for fraud.
Late Monday, Santos engaged in several interviews where he admitted that reality didn't match up to the story he told voters during his election run, which included lies about his genealogy, business experience, and educational background.
Despite all that, the New York Republican claimed he expects to be sworn in as a lawmaker next week.
According to McQuade, prosecutors might find it "dicey" to indict a newly-elected but that there is evidence of financial crimes that will likely be investigated and could lead to criminal charges.
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"It's a little dicey in that he's been duly elected by the constituents of his district. I think that prosecutors might be reluctant to interfere with that," she told host Chris Jansing. "But in terms of concrete crimes, making false statements in financial disclosures about wealth, one's source of a source of wealth, it can be a crime. So there's one possibility prosecutors in New York or D.C., I suppose, could focus on that."
"I also think there's a possibility of a wire fraud claim here to the extent he not just embellished but outright lied on his resume to attract not only voters, but donors -- that could be a scheme or artifice to defraud by which he used wire transmissions, a website. So I think that's a possibility as well," she suggested.
"And there's a question because you can charge, should you charge someone with a crime is this a dicey situation where people have elected someone?" she warned. "If they elected their representative on the basis of fraud, they believed him to be someone he was not, perhaps criminal charges are in the best interest of the public."
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