Former US Representative George Santos faced a setback in his legal battle as U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert rejected his plea to dismiss certain charges against him. Santos is facing a total of 23 charges, including defrauding campaign donors, and had sought to have three charges, specifically aggravated identity theft and theft of public money, dismissed from the case.

In October, Santos pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment that accused him of a range of crimes, such as lying to Congress about his wealth, collecting unemployment benefits while actually working, and using campaign contributions to finance personal expenses, including designer clothing. The aggravated identity theft charges specifically relate to the allegations that Santos used campaign donors' credit card information to make unauthorized repeated contributions. Prosecutors claim that Santos also attempted to conceal the true source of the funds by attributing the donations to his relatives and associates without their consent.

Santos' legal team contended that the aggravated identity theft charges lacked validity, arguing that the allegations amounted to overcharging credit card accounts willingly provided by the donors. However, prosecutors countered this argument, stating that Santos not only used the credit card information but deliberately abused it with the intention of defrauding in order to deceive contributors into believing his campaign coffers were more substantial.

Additionally, Santos' lawyers challenged the theft of public funds charge, claiming that it improperly combined multiple alleged criminal acts and transactions. They cited previous court rulings that disallowed such combinations due to the risk of jurors potentially convicting a defendant on a charge where they only believed them guilty of a portion of it. However, prosecutors maintained that the theft of public funds charge represented a single continuous scheme.

Santos, a former NY Republican Congressman, will now proceed to trial in Central Islip, on Long Island, scheduled for September. It should be noted that in April, he abandoned his endeavor to run as an independent in New York's 1st Congressional District.

Both the prosecution and Santos' lawyers declined to comment on Judge Seybert's decision. The trial will be closely watched as Santos faces a range of criminal allegations that could have significant consequences if he is found guilty.