'The stakes here are very high': Former prosecutor predicts how long Santos could end up in prison

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) will likely face between two and three years in prison if he is convicted in the criminal case that was just brought against him, a federal prosecutor said.

Attorney Elie Honig of Lowenstein Sandler LLP, a former New Jersey and federal prosecutor, was speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN when he was asked what type of punishment Santos might face if the congressman is ultimately convicted. Santos on Wednesday got slapped with 13 different criminal charges including counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Afterward, he vowed not to resign and said he would run for reelection.

"If George Santos is convicted, Jake, this is a jail case," Honig said. "Now we hear these maximums - 20 years, that is the maximum here. We need to sort of look past that. Nobody is going to get anything near 20 years."

However, Honig said, indicators do point toward a solid prison sentence between two and three years.

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"If you look at the federal sentencing guidelines, and we're in federal court here, if he's convicted, conservatively this is a two to three-year prison case. And sometimes in state cases you'll hear these numbers that someone is sentenced to but they'll only do a very small fraction. That's not the case federally," he clarified. "In federal court, if you are sentenced to x in prison, you serve at least 85% of that. The stakes here are very high and very real."

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