Former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) will plead guilty to multiple charges and avoid a federal trial that was expected to begin next month.

According to The New York Times, the former lawmaker will take a plea deal to avoid facing trial on 23 felony charges. If convicted at trial Santos could face significant time behind bars, which he may be able to reduce with a deal.

However, two attorneys representing witnesses in the trial were informed earlier this week that Santos intends to plead guilty on Monday. Santos is expected to give a statement to a New York court admitting guilt to the charges, but the exact nature of his guilty plea and sentence is not known.

The deal will need to be accepted by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert. Already the judge has scheduled an in-person hearing for this Monday and delayed a few deadlines in the case.

The disgraced Republican is accused of being involved in a variety of criminal schemes, including using campaign credit cards without authorization, falsely inflation campaign finance reports, fraudulently cashing in on unemployment benefits, lying on his financial disclosures, and deceiving campaign donors.

Last May, Santos was indicted on 13 charges before 10 other counts were added in October. Jury selection for the trial was set to begin on September 9th.

The reported plea deal comes two of Santos’ aides admitted guilt last year. Per The NYT:

Mr. Santos, 36, was first indicted on 13 charges in May 2023 after a lengthy investigation into a series of financial crimes that federal prosecutors accused him of. Ten more counts followed in October.

Santos initially pleaded not guilty to all counts, and, in an apparent effort to invoke former President Donald J. Trump, declared the prosecution to be “a witch hunt.” His apparent decision to change course comes months after two-thirds of his colleagues in the House of Representatives voted to expel him in December — making him only the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body’s history.

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