George Santos isn’t the only member of his circle accused of fabricating their backstory.
Samuel Miele, a paid fundraiser for the lying Long Island Republican, was indicted by federal prosecutors Tuesday for allegedly impersonating a former top aide to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Miele allegedly fielded calls and emails to potential donors pretending to be Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s onetime chief of staff who retired in June.
He was slapped with four counts of wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Eastern District of New York.
Miele’s indictment comes nearly three months after scandal-plagued Santos was indicted in that same court for alleged false statements, money laundering, fraud, and theft.
Prosecutors informed the court that the separate Santos and Miele cases “may be presumptively related because the facts of each case arise out of overlapping events.”
They also suggested that it “may be appropriate” to have one judge overseeing both cases as a result.
Santos and Meyer were not named in the indictment, but details in the court documents correspondent to the identities of both men.
Back in February, Miele was hit with a Federal Elections Commission complaint laying out the allegations against him.
He is believed to have accrued almost $100,000 from the Santos campaign for his work, including $50,000 during Santos’ unsuccessful 2020 House run and $42,000 for the successful 2022 campaign.
Miele was reportedly arraigned Wednesday and let out on a $150,000 bond. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shortly after Santos narrowly won election last year, he quickly became engulfed in controversy by admitting that he embellished large swaths of his backstory — including his education, work experience, and family history.
“This wasn’t about tricking people. This was about getting accepted by the party here locally,” Santos told Piers Morgan in February. “This stems more deeper into the political apparatus and the political culture of New York state. And that would take a lot more time than this program to go over to explain.”
Santos is vying for reelection in the 2024 cycle, but has drawn stiff primary competition while ignoring calls to resign.
“No, I am not,” McCarthy told Fox News back in June when asked if he was backing Santos. “He shouldn’t run for re-election.”
