At the Sept. 24 “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” premiere, staff questioned George Santos about his convictions and past lies. Santos said he had “misappropriated” funds, felt overcharged and once wanted to be caught because carrying a lie was too much.
In 2024, Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The Justice Department said he admitted filing fraudulent campaign-finance reports, embezzling campaign-donor funds, making unauthorized credit-card charges, obtaining unemployment benefits through fraud and lying in reports to the House. He received an 87-month prison sentence in April 2025, began serving it in July and was behind bars for less than three months before Donald Trump commuted the sentence in October.
Santos denied stealing money and disputed a staff member’s suggestion that he had said his mother was in the Twin Towers, saying he had already disproved it. He also said back pain limited him on the course; staff told him they would choose to trust him as a recruit.
