CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said on Friday that embattled former Republican New York Rep. George Santos’ seven-year sentence is “very high” for a “first-time non-violent offender.”
Santos was sentenced to over 87 months in prison Friday in connection to 23 federal charges related to wire fraud and identity theft, which he pleaded guilty to in April 2024. Honig told CNN’s Dana Bash that granting the prosecution the sentence they wanted for a defendant is highly “unusual,” and is likely caused by Santos’ lack of remorse.
“This is the worst case realistic scenario and outcome for George Santos. What’s really unusual about this situation, Dana, is it’s unusual to see this big of a disparity between what the defendant was arguing for. Here, George Santos could not possibly have been sentenced to less than 24 months, 2 years. So George Santos’ lawyers were asking for 2 months, but the prosecutors were asking for 7 plus years, 87 months. Usually the parties are much closer, especially in a case like this that was resolved by a guilty plea and not by trial. And here we see that the judge went all the way to the top of that range, gave the government every month the government asked for.”
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Honig said that Santos’ refusal to take responsibility for his wrongdoings inflamed the judge to give him the maximum sentence. Despite that, the sentencing is still extraordinarily high for a defendant who has not committed any violent crimes.
“[W]hen a defendant has refused to express any remorse, refused to accept responsibility, flouted the court and the public like this, that tends to inflame judges, that tends to drive up sentences,” Honig continued. “But you’re right, Dana, this is a very, very high sentence especially for a first-time, non-violent offender like George Santos is.”
The House of Representatives expelled Santos from Congress in December 2023 following the charges, and a House Ethics Committee report said that the congressman “knowingly” committed fraud while using campaign donations for “personal purposes.”
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