Ex-LI Rep. Santos: FBI investigating plot to kill me in prison

An alleged plot to kill ex-Long Island Rep. George Santos in the New Jersey prison where he is serving a 7-year sentence has landed the disgraced politician in protective custody, according to a new column.

Santos wrote about the alleged threat against his life in his latest column in The South Shore Press, which was published Tuesday. Santos, who was sentenced to more than 7 years in federal prison for defrauding his donors and lying to Congress, has continued to pen the column for the Center Moriches-based publication while behind bars.

Santos, who has complained about the conditions in prison in previous columns, said his stay at FCI Fairton "changed drastically" on Aug. 28.

"My day had already had an odd start with an email from my lawyer telling me that an investigative reporter with Project Veritas had reached out to him with information that there were people plotting to kill me in prison," Santos wrote on Sept. 4. "Like the many countless other threats I’ve received before, I ignored it and prompted him to set up a legal call so we could speak. Well, like the good former cop he is, he ignored me and notified the facility warden, and alas, panic started."

Santos’ attorney Joe Murray declined to comment Tuesday.

"I do not want to compromise the ongoing FBI investigation," Murray wrote in a text message.

Neither the FBI nor the Bureau of Prisons responded to messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Officers told Santos he was being placed in the prison’s Special Housing Unit, known as SHU, "for my own safety," Santos wrote.

"Well, here at FCI Fairton, they have a funny way of ‘protecting’ you," Santos wrote. "They send you to the same exact place under the same conditions they send people who break the rules. The SHU is mainly used to create deterrence, but here they also use it to torture people. So it’s been 8 days since I’ve been locked away (at the time of his writing) in a 15x17 box with a bed, toilet, sink combo, and 1 shower for the first 6 days in the SHU."

Santos said he was informed by the prison’s warden that he’d be confined to the SHU for a minimum of 30 days while the threat is investigated, but he’s since been told the FBI has now taken over the investigation and, therefore, his time in the SHU has been extended indefinitely.

"So you all can understand my situation, the Box I’m in, as I said, is 15x17 ft, extremely dirty with no ventilation, with musty, dirty air, and my only source of drinking water comes from the top of my toilet," Santos wrote. "The shower only runs ice-cold water, and showers are only extended 3 times a week, with soap that does not lather or foam on recycled underwear from other inmates. There is no dignity, no humanity in this place. I’m being tortured every day and gaslighted on that it’s for my ‘safety.’"

Santos said his stay in the SHU has also stripped him of his ability to make daily phone calls and have family visits.

"Today was visitation day, and my husband drove 3.5 hrs to come see me on the singular visitation day we get every 30 days and after we were given the OK for the visit, he was turned away," Santos wrote. "FCI Fairton is the definition of dysfunction, and it truly is hell on earth."

Santos, 36, engaged in a variety of illegal schemes as he sought a congressional seat ahead of the 2022 election: fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits authorized during the COVID-19 pandemic, lying on his congressional financial disclosure forms, filing fraudulent fundraising reports to get support for his congressional campaign and stealing thousands of dollars from his campaign contributors by charging their credit cards without authorization, prosecutors have said. He was also expelled from Congress.

Santos pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.

Santos, who has spoken about wanting a presidential pardon before he went to prison, again invoked that wish in his column.

"The only hope I have is that President Trump will see this and take me out of this horrid situation and let me go back to my family," Santos wrote.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.