U.S. Rep. George Santos leaves the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, New York, May 10, 2023.
Barry Williams | New York Daily News | Getty Images
A man who was a paid campaign fundraiser for Rep. George Santos was indicted in New York on federal charges related to his allegedly impersonating a top aide to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he solicited donations for Santos.
The fundraiser, Samuel Miele, last Sept. 26 allegedly sent a letter to Santos “in which he admitted to ‘faking my identity to a big donor,’ but stated that he was ‘high risk, high reward in everything I do,’ ” according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Miele was charged with four counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in the indictment.
His arrest comes three months after the New York Republican Santos himself was criminally charged in the same court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn with fraud, theft, money laundering and making false statements.
CNBC reported in January that Miele had made calls and sent emails to would-be donors while claiming to be Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, when Miele was raising funds for Santos’ House campaigns those years.
Miele and his lawyer Kevin Marino did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the indictment.
Miele was arraigned on the indictment and pleaded not guilty. He was released on $150,000 bail.
McCarthy, a California Republican, has defended Santos’ right to continue serving in the House even as he fights his own criminal charges.
In a tweet Wednesday responding to a tweet of this article, Rep. Dan Goldman, a Democrat who represents a district covering lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn, blasted McCarthy.
“According to a federal indictment, George Santos paid someone to impersonate Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff to raise money, yet McCarthy continues to protect Santos,” Goldman wrote.
“Pathetic and shameful.”
In a court filing Wednesday, prosecutors notified two judges in the Eastern District Court that the criminal cases against Santos and Miele “may be presumptively related because the facts of each case arise out of overlapping events.”
Because the cases are related, prosecutors wrote, “may be appropriate” to reassign them so that one judge is handling both which “may result in a significant savings of judicial resources and serve the interests of justice.”
– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Brian Schwartz
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