By Luc Cohen
CENTRAL ISLIP, New York (Reuters) -A former fundraiser for indicted U.S. Representative George Santos pleaded guilty to fraud on Tuesday, adding to the pressure on the embattled New York Republican.
At a hearing in federal court in Long Island, Samuel Miele, 27, admitted to impersonating a staffer for another member of congress in soliciting campaign contributions and to charging donors’ credit cards without their consent.
U.S District Judge Joanna Seybert accepted the plea, part of an agreement with federal prosecutors, and set Miele’s sentencing for April 30.
There was no indication that Miele was cooperating with prosecutors’ probe of Santos.
Miele, who was charged in August, had previously pleaded not guilty.
At the hearing, Miele admitted he pretended he was chief of staff to the then minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, to help solicit contributions for Santos’ campaign.
Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, was present at the hearing. He declined to comment on Miele’s guilty plea.
Santos, a first-term congressman, in May pleaded not guilty to federal charges of laundering funds to pay for his personal expenses, illegally receiving unemployment benefits, and lying to the House of Representatives about his assets.
He pleaded not guilty in October to an updated indictment accusing him of charging campaign donors’ credit cards without their consent and reporting a bogus $500,000 campaign loan.
A trial is set for Sept. 9, 2024. Santos has admitted to lying about much of his resume but has resisted calls for his resignation, including from fellow Republicans.
Miele is the second person close to Santos to plead guilty to federal charges in recent weeks. Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5 to a conspiracy charge for inflating his 2022 congressional campaign’s fundraising numbers.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
