A paid campaign adviser for embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., has been indicted by President Joe Biden's Justice Department for impersonating a top aide to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Samuel Miele was charged Wednesday with four counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
"On or about Sept. 26, 2022, the defendant Samuel Miele transmitted a letter to Candidate #1, 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,'" the indictment alleged.
Santos himself pleaded not guilty in May to a 13-count federal indictment charging him with looting his campaign coffers, fraudulently receiving unemployment, and lying to Congress about being a millionaire. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
A day later, he signed an agreement with Brazilian officials that allowed him to avoid prosecution for forging two stolen checks in 2008.
Despite his legal woes, Santos has vowed to fight to keep his congressional seat, which mostly encompasses the western suburbs of Long Island but also straddles parts of Queens in New York City.
While his identity is masked in the indictment, Miele's communications to donors had him claiming to be McCarthy's Chief of Staff Dan Meyer during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, CNBC reported.
"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," according to Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., himself currently under fire for his defense of President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden amid damning allegations of bribery and foreign influence peddling schemes.
"Pathetic and shameful."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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