By Mucahit Oktay
NEW YORK (AA) - Former US Representative George Santos, who was expelled from Congress in early December, appeared before a court in New York on Tuesday.
At Santos’s first appearance at a federal court for a status conference ahead of his September corruption trial, his lawyer expressed optimism about plea negotiations in Santos’s criminal fraud case.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 felony charges.
He declined to comment on the case to reporters while leaving the court
On Dec. 1, the US House of Representatives expelled Santos, who is currently facing indictments for lying about his background during his 2022 campaign for his seat.
Since his election to the House in 2022, multiple instances have emerged of Santos lying about his background, including the school he attended, his work history, and his mother supposedly being in the World Trade Center on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The ex-congressman currently faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.