The former treasurer for embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal conspiracy charge. Marks resigned from Santos’ team in January amid reports of multiple controversies revolving around his campaign finances. Santos pleaded not guilty in May to a 13-count indictment accusing him of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.
Federal prosecutors said that Marks allegedly filed the names of false donors to Santos’ congressional campaign, in order to inflate the amount of campaign donations Santos appeared to have amassed so he could qualify for national party support. Prosecutors stated that the names of Marks’ and Santos’ family members were among those falsely reported to have lent his campaign $500,000, despite not having the financial means to do so. Federal prosecutors said Marks told them: “these reports were created to artificially inflate his funds to meet a threshold.”
United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement: “with today’s guilty plea, Marks has admitted that she conspired with a congressional candidate to lie to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of the candidate’s campaign for New York’s Third Congressional District, falsely inflating the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent contributions and loans.”
Marks has been prominent in Republican politics on Long Island for decades. She was a treasurer for Lee Zeldin’s unsuccessful campaign for governor and she worked for several political committees, including God, Guns, Life, Veterans for MAGA and Defend the Constitution. Marks’ attorney, Raymond Perini, said his client does not have a cooperation agreement with the government in place, but “if they subpoena her, she’ll do the right thing.” Marks is scheduled to be sentenced next April.
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