Former Santos Campaign Fundraiser Pleads Guilty to Federal Wire Fraud Charge

Sam Miele Admits to Impersonating Congressional Aide, Committing Access Device Fraud, and Agrees to Pay Restitution

Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for U.S. Rep. George Santos, pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge, admitting he impersonated a high-ranking congressional aide while raising campaign cash for the embattled New York Republican.
Miele also acknowledged he committed access device fraud by charging credit cards without authorization to send money to the campaigns of Santos and other political candidates, and for his own personal use, totaling about $100,000.
Miele agreed to pay about $109,000 in restitution, to forfeit another $69,000 and to make a $470,000 payment to a campaign contributor.
Miele is the second campaign aide to Santos who took a plea deal in a federal probe. Last month, the ex-treasurer for Santos, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated Santos in a scheme to embellish his campaign finance reports with a fake loan and fake donors.
Santos himself is facing a 23-count federal indictment that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to make tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. He is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Elections Commission that he had loaned his campaign $500,000 when he actually hadn’t given anything and had less than $8,000 in the bank.