Rep. George Santos’ former campaign treasurer pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to conspiring with “a congressional candidate” to commit wire fraud, make materially false statements, obstruct the administration of the Federal Election Commission and commit aggravated identity theft.
Nancy Marks, 58, entered her plea before U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert at the federal courthouse in Central Islip. When sentenced, Marks faces up to five years in prison, as well as restitution and a fine.
Marks, who has served Long Island Republicans for more than a decade, said she filed fraudulent reports to artificially inflate the amount of funds Santos raised to meet financial benchmarks needed to receive financial assistance from the Republican National Committee to meet the committee’s goals. The campaign needed to report raising at least $250,000, according to court records.
“I did this knowing it was not true and the donors, who are real people, didn’t give me permission to use their names,” Marks told Seybert.
“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,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said. “My office will continue holding accountable those who perpetrate a fraud on the public and the institutions that help maintain transparency in the electoral process.”
The congressional candidate, who was not named by the court, is apparently Santos.
Prosecutors said to meet the committee’s benchmarks Marks and “the candidate” agreed to falsely report to the FEC that “at least 10 family members of Marks and the candidate had made contributions to the campaign, when Marks and the candidate both knew that these individuals had not made the reported contributions.”
Marks and “the candidate,” prosecutors said, also agreed to falsely report to the FEC that the congressional candidate had “loaned the campaign significant sums of money, including in one instance a $500,000 loan when, in fact, the congressional candidate had not made the reported loans and, at the time the loans were reported, did not have the funds necessary to make such loans.”
Marks resigned as Santos’ campaign treasurer in January. The congressman blamed her for mounting questions about his fund-raising and spending before his federal indictment in May.
Efforts to contact Santos for comment were unavailing.
Santos was charged with 10 new criminal counts Tuesday evening in a superseding indictment, bringing his total indictment count to 23.
His original 13-count indictment from May included seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted of the top charges, Santos could face up to 20 years in prison.
The 10 new charges Santos is accused of included one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of lying to the Federal Election Commission, two counts of falsifying records, two counts of aggravated identify theft and one count of device fraud.
Marks’ guilty plea raised questions about her work on behalf of other Republican campaigns across Long Island.
Among those candidates, Marks also served as treasurer for the Santos D’Esposito Nassau Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee between Santos and Rep. Anthony Esposito (NY-04).
The two Republican Long Island representatives made filings to the FEC with Marks serving as treasurer of the fund.
Laura Gillen, a Democratic candidate running against D’Esposito, said the fund showed a closer relationship between D’Esposito and Santos than previously known.
“As much as Anthony D’Esposito would now like to pretend he never met George Santos or Nancy Marks, official documents suggest that he worked with them closely and raised money directly with them,” Gillen said. “As we learn more about the illegal elements of the Santos-Marks fund-raising work, the public has the right to know more about Congressman D’Esposito’s relationship with Nancy Marks and his role in creating the ‘Santos D’Esposito Nassau Victory Fund.’”
She said D’Esposito’s ties to Marks are too close and exemplify the “disgusting shady behavior that Long Islanders are sick of.”
D’Esposito’s campaign spokesperson Matthew Capp denied the accusation and told Blank Slate Media that D’Esposito did not have a working relationship with Marks.
“The D’Esposito campaign never received any funds from the now defunct joint account in question, and Congressman D’Esposito maintains his long-held position that George Santos should be expelled from Congress,” Capp said.
Marks also served as a bookkeeper for former Congressman Lee Zeldin during his 2022 bid for governor of New York and handled the finances of John Flanagan, a former Republican state senator and majority leader.
Marks was the treasurer for George Santos’ principal congressional campaign committee during his 2022 bid for New York’s Third Congressional District.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation. It is being handled by their Public Integrity Section, the Long Island Criminal Division and the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.
