George Santos fundraiser who impersonated Kevin McCarthy aide indicted
WASHINGTON — Samuel Miele, a fundraiser for the marketing campaign of Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was indicted on Wednesday for allegedly impersonating a high-ranking aide to a member of the Home with the intention to increase cash.
Miele was accused of utilizing an e-mail account bearing the identify of the aide to ship fraudulent fundraising solicitations to potential contributors for Santos across the span between August 2021 and December 2021, based on the indictment. He additionally allegedly signed emails with the aide’s identify.
USA TODAY and multiple other news outlets have reported that Miele beforehand recognized himself because the chief of workers for Home Speaker McCarthy, R-Calif., although the Wednesday indictment doesn’t identify the aide.
By the scheme, the indictment alleges that Miele solicited contributions from greater than a dozen contributors. For his efforts, he allegedly obtained a fee of 15% of every contribution.
Miele is accused of sending a message final September to Santos during which he admitted to faking his id to an enormous donor however said that he was “excessive danger, excessive reward in every part I do,” the indictment notes.
Miele was charged with 4 counts of wire fraud and one depend of aggravated id theft. He pleaded not responsible to the counts and was launched on $150,000 bail, CNBC News reported.
Though the aide’s identify shouldn’t be talked about within the indictment, the group Finish Residents United filed a complaint with the Federal Election Fee final 12 months that Miele impersonated Dan Meyer, the previous McCarthy chief of workers, in the course of the 2020 and 2022 election cycle.
“This indictment is a crucial first step in holding George Santos and his associates accountable for his or her crimes,” Finish Residents United spokesperson Bawadden Sayed stated in an announcement on Wednesday. “Fraudulently impersonating the then-Republican Minority Chief’s chief of workers to solicit marketing campaign contributions was a brazen and silly plot.”
Miele’s arraignment comes after Santos was indicted on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of cash laundering, one depend of theft of public funds and two counts of mendacity to the Home of Representatives. He pleaded not responsible to the costs in Might.