George Santos's Ex-Campaign Treasurer Implicates Congressman and Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charge

Gay Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos’s former campaign treasurer pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge related to a case against the New York lawmaker.

Nancy Marks pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, according to the Associated Press. She also implicated the out New York Republican in court.

Marks told the judge that she and the lawmaker lied on finance reports that he loaned his political campaign $500,000. She said they did it even when they didn't have the money to do so, but they hoped to make it look like he'd been successful at fundraising for his campaign. Marks ran Santos’s campaign finances until she quit when allegations of abnormalities in financial disclosures came to light.

"Marks also said she had provided the Federal Election Commission with a fake list of people who had supposedly given money to the campaign. The names on that list were real but the donations were not, and the people had not given her permission to use the names, Marks said," the AP reports.

Marks had worked for several powerful Republicans and conservative political action committees over the years. Several times she’s been dogged by accusations of corruption, but no charges had previously been brought against her, The New York Times reports.

The paper reports that Marks waived being indicted by a grand jury and just agreed to the charges she faced. It notes that this happens when the defendant is planning to work with prosecutors — though that’s not always the case.

Marks’s case had the same court docket number as Santos’s. Her plea agreement recommends a prison sentence of 3.5-4 years.

She was once one of Santos’s closest advisers, and she had worked with him since his failed 2020 campaign for Congress. Santos was one of her most valuable clients, having spent almost $250,000 on her services, according to the Times.

However, things changed. Santos has blamed Marks for any financial irregularities in his campaign.

Related: George Santos Really Wants You to Meet His Husband

Ray Perini, Marks's attorney, told reporters outside the courtroom that Santos “mentally seduced” Marks.

“There’s a manipulation involved that had to do with her family and the death of her husband,” Perini said, according to the AP. “There were lies told.”

Perini implied Marks was willing to testify against Santos.

“If we get a subpoena we’ll do the right thing,” the lawyer said.

Another aide has also been charged in a separate fraud case. Samuel Miele, 27, was charged with four counts of wire fraud and one of aggravated identity theft, according to an indictment unsealed in August. Miele phoned or emailed more than a dozen potential campaign contributors in the “fraudulent fund-raising” effort, the indictment alleges. He told donors he was a “high-ranking aide to a member of the House with leadership responsibilities,” it notes. He received 15 percent of all funds raised.

Related: George Santos Aide Accused of Impersonating Kevin McCarthy Staffer Now Charged

The fabulist GOP congressman, who has lied extensively about his past, is facing 13 federal criminal charges. Those include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives.

He’s pleaded not guilty to all of them.

Santos will appear in court October 27. Santos also faces an ethics investigation in the House over allegations of sexual misconduct.