George Santos Aide Charged for Impersonating Kevin McCarthy Staffer – Rolling Stone

A man who helped raise funds for George Santos’ 2022 election campaign has been charged with impersonating a high-level congressional staffer in order to dupe voters into contributing funds to the embattled Long Island congressman. 

Samuel Miele was charged Wednesday in New York with four felony counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. 

According to the indictment, Miele received a 15 percent commission from Santos’ campaign based on the amount of money he raised. Between August and December of 2021, Miele allegedly “impersonated [the staffer], in both email and telephone communications with potential contributors, for the purpose of soliciting financial contributions to support the Campaign and enriching himself through commissions earned on these financial contributions to the Campaign.”

The identity of the impersonated staffer was not revealed in the indictment, but authorities allege Miele went so far as to create an email under their name. According to the Associated Press, the details of the allegations suggest that the staffer is Dan Myer, former chief of staff to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R- Calif.). 

Prosecutors point to an email sent my Miele on September 26, 2022 to Rep. Santos in which Miele admits to “faking my identity to a big donor” while stating that he is “high risk, high reward in everything I do.”
Santos is facing his own legal problems, including an indictment in New York on 13 criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and lying to Congress. He is not named as a defendant in the case against Miele.