In a new indictment filed Tuesday, U.S. Rep. George Santos was accused of stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and then using their credit cards to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges.

Prosecutors said some of that stolen money ended up in his own bank account.

The 23-count indictment replaces an indictment previously filed against the New York Republican accusing him of, among other things, embezzling money from his campaign and lying to Congress about his wealth.

The new indictment includes allegations that he charged his campaign more than $44,000 over a period of months using contributors’ cards without their knowledge. In one case, he charged $12,000 to a contributor’s credit card and transferred the vast majority of that money to his personal bank account, prosecutors said.

Rep. George Santos has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and theft during the campaign

Santos is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Commission that he had loaned $500,000 to his campaign in an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate, when in fact he had less than $8,000 dollars in his personal accounts.

As alleged, Santos is accused of stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their consent, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign, U.S. Atty. Breon Peace said this in a statement.

Santos did not immediately return a text message and a phone message seeking comment. He has previously maintained his innocence and insisted he is the victim of a witch hunt.

The new charges increase the legal danger for Santos, who likely faces a longer prison sentence if convicted. So far he has resisted all calls to resign, insisting he plans to seek re-election next year.

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Santo’s personal and professional biography as a wealthy businessman began to unravel shortly after he won election last year to represent Long Island and Queens, exposing an intricate web of deceit.

Here are the highlights of the indictment against George Santos

In addition to lying to voters about his prominent Wall Street background, Jewish heritage, academic and athletic achievements, animal rescue work, real estate holdings and more, Santos is accused of carrying out numerous fraud schemes designed to enrich himself and deceive his donors.

He was initially arrested in May on a 13-count federal indictment accusing him of using money intended for campaign costs for branded clothing and other personal expenses and unlawfully obtaining unemployment benefits intended for Americans affected by the pandemic lost their jobs.

Released on bail pending trial, Santos has described his litany of lies as victimless embellishments while blaming some of his financial improprieties on his former treasurer, Nancy Marks, who he said was a rogue politician.

Rep. George Santos is paying himself back the $85,000 he raised from lackluster re-election fundraising

Last week, Marks, a longtime Long Island political accountant and close aide to Santos, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. She told a judge that she helped her former boss fool potential donors and Republican Party officials by filing false campaign finance reports.

Tuesday’s indictment said Marks and Santos were involved in the same scheme to forge a $500,000 campaign loan to meet a benchmark that would earn additional support from a Republican Party committee. Santos has now also been accused of recording fake donations from at least ten people, all relatives of him or Marks, as part of the same effort to make the campaign appear as if it was meeting fundraising goals.

Santos was not initially charged in the indictment against Marks, but was identified in court filings as a co-conspirator.”

The new indictment alleges a multi-part fraud by Santos, who allegedly duped his donors and his family members.

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In one case, Santos allegedly stole the credit card information of one of his contributors, who had already donated $5,800 to the campaign, to give himself another $15,800 in payments, the indictment said. Because the improper charges exceeded contribution limits under federal law, Santos listed the additional payments as coming from his own unwitting relatives, prosecutors allege.

Financial questions continue to swirl around Santos, who claimed to be wealthy but spent much of his adulthood oscillating between low-wage jobs and unemployment while dealing with eviction cases and two

different

criminal charges related to his use of bad checks.

A separate fundraiser for Santos, Sam Miele, was also previously indicted on federal charges that he posed as a high-ranking congressional aide while soliciting contributions for the Republican campaign.

Prosecutors said Miele, 27, impersonated the former chief of staff to Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was the House minority leader at the time, by setting up dummy email addresses that resembled the staffer’s name.

Miele’s lawyer, Kevin Marino, previously predicted that his client would be acquitted at trial.