Charging George Santos: Analyzing the U.S. Department of Justice’s Indictment of the Congressman

Congressman George Santos was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2022, representing New York’s Third Congressional District. On May 10, 2023 he was arraigned in Federal District Court in Long Island, NY on a 13-count criminal indictment for allegedly defrauding donors, illegally obtaining unemployment benefits, and lying about his income and his assets on public financial disclosure forms. Why does the indictment cover only a small portion of what has been reported about Congressman Santos’s alleged wrongdoings? Listen as Election Law & Government Ethics attorneys Rob Walker and Caleb Burns discuss why the indictment is narrowly focused, how the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will work to prove these charges, and more.