Former Rep. George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) will not be required to pay any additional fines or restitution related to his criminal conviction, according to his clemency order, which was made public on Monday.
Santos was released from prison Friday after President Trump announced that he signed a sentence commutation for the former lawmaker, who reported to prison three months ago to begin his 87-month sentence.
The clemency order grants Santos “an immediate commutation of his entire sentence to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation, supervised release, or other conditions.”
Santos — who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of a plea deal last summer — had also been sentenced to two years of supervised released and ordered to pay more than $370,000 in restitution.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, host Dana Bash pressed Santos on whether he would still have to pay restitution ordered by the court, and he indicated he did not know but would do “whatever the law requires” of him.
“This is about a fine, and this is about paying money back,” Bash said in the interview. “And whether you describe them as victims or just donors to the NRCC, what the court said is that they should get their money back. Will you work to try to do that?”
“Well, look, I can do my best to do whatever the law requires of me, so, I don’t know what that is. I’ve been out of prison for two days. I agreed to come here to speak with you candidly and openly and not to obfuscate,” Santos replied.
“If it’s required of me by the law, yes. If it’s not, then, no. I will do whatever the law requires me to do,” he added.
Santos was originally sentenced to a seven-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was expelled from Congress after reports revealed he fabricated much of his resume and lied on campaign finance reports.
“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,” Trump wrote Friday in a statement on Truth Social.
“Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!” Trump added.
Joe Murray, Santos’s attorney, said the former congressman was released around 11 p.m. Friday.
