Former congressman George Santos’ political career has been marred by controversy since he entered the mainstream American political scene in 2019 with his first bid for a seat in the House of Representatives. Now, he’s facing a seven-year prison stint for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The former Republican congressman, only 36 years old as of his sentencing, “filed fraudulent FEC reports, embezzled funds from campaign donors, stole identities, charged credit cards without authorization, obtained unemployment benefits through fraud, and lied in reports to the U.S. House of Representatives,” according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
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Santos’ sentence isn’t limited to the 87 months he’s required to serve in federal prison, though. He’s also been ordered by the court to pay two hefty sums — one in the form of restitution for his victims, and the other in the form of forfeiture, a penalty designed to strip financial criminals of proceeds generated from their crimes.
Santos reportedly has until July 25th to surrender himself to custody and begin his sentence. Additionally, upon his release from federal prison. Santos is also required to turn over up to 10% of his income to fund additional payments.
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All of this begs the question: Just how much was Santos worth prior to his recent judgment and sentencing? And how big of a hit will his net worth take when he pays his restitution and forfeiture penalties?
What is George Santos’ net worth in 2025?
Due to Santos’ history of financial fraud, disclosures of his wealth should be taken with a grain of salt, especially since they’ve varied so substantially over the years. Here’s the information we have:
When Santos first ran for a seat in the House in the 2020 election — a campaign that was immediately troubled by the fact that he lived outside the district he was running to represent and had lied about his address — he was, like other candidates, required to make a public disclosure of his financial assets and liabilities.
In this disclosure, Santos listed no assets worth over $5,000, indicating a negligible net worth of close to $0. This information was at odds with verbal statements he made during the campaign regarding fundraising.
In this same disclosure, Santos reported that his income for the year was only $50,000, all of which came from a financial fund called Harbor Hill Capital for which he served as director. This fund was seized and shuttered by the federal government that same year as a Ponzi scheme.
Fast forward two years to 2022 and Santos’ second congressional bid, and things had changed dramatically, at least according to Santos. In his second financial disclosure, he listed bank accounts worth between $1 million and $5 million, a condo in Brazil worth between $500,000 and $1 million, and business assets worth between $1 million and $5 million.
Together, these assets indicated a net worth of anywhere from $2.5 million to $11 million — quite the jump from the near-zero net worth he had reported just two years prior. This time, Santos’ campaign was successful, and Santos became a congressman, earning him a salary of $174,000.
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By the end of 2023, the long wake of lies and fraud that followed Santos earned him an expulsion from Congress, at which point he pivoted to a new revenue stream: Cameo. (Cameo is an app that allows celebrities to offer personalized videos to fans for a fee of their choosing.)
Santos charged $75 per video for some time before upping his rate substantially to between $350 and $500 due to the volume of requests he received. According to Santos, he earned over $400,000 by recording around 1,200 videos over just a few months, but these figures have not been confirmed.
How much does Santos have to pay in restitution & forfeiture?
On April 25, 2025, as part of his sentencing, Santos was issued two financial penalties in addition to his 7-year, 3-month prison stint: restitution totalling $373,749.97 and forfeiture totalling $205,002.97 for a grand total of $578,752.94.
Assuming his net worth is around $2.5 million — the low end implied by his 2022 disclosure — his wealth might be around $1.9 million.
Assuming his net worth is around $11 million — the high end implied by his 2022 disclosure — he may be worth as much as $10.4 million after these payments.
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The takeaway
Due to Santos’ almost unwavering track record of fraud and lies, estimating his wealth based on his previous financial disclosures could be an exercise in futility. Many believe that Santos’ 2022 disclosures exaggerated his wealth substantially, and expenses associated with his ongoing legal battles have probably drained his assets to some degree.
Depending on his actions between now and his July deadline to begin his prison sentence, including whether he pays his restitution and forfeiture bills or whether additional legal action is necessary to collect on these sums, a clearer picture of Santos’ financial situation may emerge in the coming months.
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