CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — George Santos ′ former campaign treasurer was sentenced Wednesday to three years’ probation for her role in fabricating campaign finance reports for the disgraced ex-congressman from New York.
Nancy Marks, addressing a federal judge on Long Island, said she’d learned from her mistakes, walked away from politics and started her life all over again at the age of 59.
The veteran political operative, who pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges last year, said she has been working nights at a warehouse and started taking courses toward a college degree, hoping to move into a management position.
“I thought I had found a friend in George Santos,” Marks said Wednesday. “But everything about him was a lie. I thought it was a true friend and a true person. He was not.”
Marks’ lawyer, Raymond Perini, said Santos came into her life at a “vulnerable” time when her husband was dying of brain cancer. The then-candidate ingratiated himself by claiming his mother had also suffered from brain cancer and that he had the same condition.
“He saw someone he could manipulate,” Perini said. “He preyed on her weakness.”
Prosecutor Anthony Bagnuola, in arguing for 18 months in prison, said Marks was “no rube,” but a seasoned political operative who provided the local contacts and “veneer of legitimacy” Santos needed to pull off his scheme.
“There are real victims in this case, but Nancy Marks is not one of them,” he said.
U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert said she considered Marks’ responsibilities to her elderly mother and the fact that she was a first-time offender in deciding not to impose prison time.
But she also gave Marks a stern warning as she handed down her sentence, which includes being ordered to pay more than $178,000 in restitution.
“You knew better and you did it anyway,” the judge said. “There will be no more leniency for Nancy Marks. That’s it.”
Marks admitted to helping Santos inflate his campaign donations during the 2022 election cycle in order to hit the fundraising thresholds needed to qualify for backing from the national Republican Party.
Prosecutors say Marks filed campaign finance reports that listed a number of false donors, including at least 10 members of her family and Santos’ family.
The reports to the Federal Election Commission and the GOP National Committee also falsely claimed Santos had loaned his campaign $500,000 when in reality he didn’t have the money to make that kind of loan.
Marks, who faced up to five years in prison, worked on more than 150 Republican campaigns on Long Island, including for the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, during his successful campaigns for Congress and a failed gubernatorial run.
Santos was sentenced last month to more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He’s due to report to prison July 25.
Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for Santos, was sentenced in March to one year and one day in prison for his role in the campaign fraud, which included impersonating a high-ranking congressional aide.
Santos served less than a year in Congress before becoming just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues after it was revealed he’d fabricated much of his life story.
The political unknown had painted himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms, when in reality he was struggling financially.
The revelations led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how he had funded his campaign.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
