Santos's Treasurer Avoids Prison for Her Role in His Schemes

New York Times

4 days ago

George Santos's campaign treasurer and right-hand woman, Nancy Marks, was sentenced to probation on Wednesday for her role in the former congressman's campaign finance schemes after pleading guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy.
Ms. Marks's admission was crucial in helping federal prosecutors build their case against Mr. Santos, who pleaded guilty last year and admitted to committing identity theft, filing false reports and stealing donors' money, among other crimes. He was sentenced last month to more than 7 years in prison.
Appearing before Judge Joanna Seybert in Federal District Court in Central Islip, N.Y., Ms. Marks, 59, apologized for her role in Mr. Santos's schemes and vowed to have no further involvement in politics.
The sentence, three years' probation and $178,000 in restitution, coupled with a heavily redacted sentencing memorandum and repeated delays in the sentencing, fueled speculation that Ms. Marks had cooperated with prosecutors.
Asked whether Ms. Marks had done so, her lawyer, Raymond Perini, was coy.
'I'm going to leave that an enigma,' he said.
Ms. Marks was once the go-to bookkeeper for some of Long Island's most prominent Republicans. Her business dealings had drawn federal prosecutors' interest, but it was her partnership with Mr. Santos, whose outrageous lies revealed serious misdeeds, that led to her downfall.
In October 2023, five months after Mr. Santos was indicted, she pleaded guilty before prosecutors had filed an indictment against her. In their sentencing memo, the prosecutors asked for an 18-month prison sentence, the lowest end of the range recommended by the U.S. Probation Department.
Standing before her family in court, Ms. Marks appeared nervous. She spoke of late-night phone calls with Mr. Santos, whom she described as both a friend and something like an abusive spouse.
It was 'heartbreaking' to learn that his life story was a lie, she told the judge.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the sentencing for the longtime veteran of local, state and federal campaigns was her promise that she was done with politics.
'She's not a threat to the political world anymore,' Mr. Perini said. 'That's done.'
As she delivered the sentence, Judge Seybert sought to impress upon Ms. Marks the seriousness of what she had done.
'This will be a lesson for people in local politics, that there will not be any more leniency for Nancy Marks,' Judge Seybert warned. 'This is it.'
As Mr. Santos's treasurer, Ms. Marks was at the center of his political operation from his first unsuccessful run in 2020 through to his election to Congress in 2022. She oversaw the flow of funds in and out of the campaign, as well as reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
She was compensated handsomely, earning nearly $240,000, including reimbursements from Mr. Santos's campaign and associated political action committees.
But shortly after Mr. Santos's election, The New York Times reported that he had fabricated nearly every part of his biography, prompting investigations by federal and local law enforcement authorities and an inquiry by the House Ethics Committee.
That committee found that Mr. Santos had 'sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,' according to its report. The panel found that Mr. Santos had spent campaign funds at Hermès and Ferragamo, as well as the adult website OnlyFans.
He was later expelled from Congress by a two-thirds vote of his colleagues.
In pleading guilty, Ms. Marks admitted she had doctored reports to include fake donations from family members and friends and a fake $500,000 loan. The ruse had made the campaign look significantly more successful on paper than it was in reality.
The reports were littered with irregularities, including constantly amended expenses, mysterious donations and dozens of payments addressed to 'Anonymous' in the precise amount of $199.99, just below the threshold at which receipts were required.
Once a sought-after treasurer for Republican and Conservative Party candidates, the self-taught Ms. Marks built something of an empire from her converted garage in Shirley, N.Y.
Amid a cloud of cigarette smoke, she handled the books of countless judges, political action committees and politicians. Her clients included Edward P. Romaine, the Suffolk County executive; the former State Senate majority leader, John Flanagan; and former Representative Lee Zeldin, who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency.
Some of the financial irregularities that attracted prosecutors' interest to Mr. Santos also appear in reports she filed for other clients, most notably Mr. Zeldin's 2020 congressional campaign. In March 2023, Mr. Zeldin amended his reports, which had included a number of $199.99 payments to unnamed recipients.
Her work for Mr. Santos was not the only instance of Ms. Marks drawing the attention of federal prosecutors, however.
Her business practices attracted scrutiny on at least two occasions, once for brokering the sale of a ballot line, and once in response to complaints that she had stolen from clients. Neither inquiry resulted in charges.
Some clients, including Mr. Zeldin, cut ties with Ms. Marks and her company, Campaigns Unlimited, after her role in Mr. Santos's schemes became public. Others stayed on.
In the first few months of 2024, federal campaign filings show that Ms. Marks handled the books for a conservative television commentator running for Congress in Florida, and for a political action committee focused on electing people to school boards who oppose the teaching of racial history and gender identity.
In court on Wednesday, Ms. Marks portrayed herself as a reformed woman. She said she was caring for her mother, had taken a night job at a warehouse and was going back to school.
'I have learned from my mistakes,' she said, 'and I am trying to start my life over again.'