City Council District 13 Republican nominee Kristy Marmorato launched her campaign with Nancy Marks as the treasurer — the go-to bookkeeper for New York Republicans who recently pleaded guilty to fraud for her work on U.S. Rep. George Santos’ campaign.
Marks, the former campaign treasurer for the twice-indicted Santos, entered her guilty plea in federal court last Thursday to conspiring with a congressional candidate to commit wire fraud, making materially false statements, obstructing the administration of the Federal Election Commission and committing aggravated identity theft.
In court, she admitted to a scheme to embellish campaign finance reports with a fake $500,000 loan and fraudulent donors in order to trick Republican Party officials into supporting Santos, who was struggling to garner financial support for his run for Congress in 2022.
“The donors, who are real people, didn’t give me permission to use their names,” she admitted in court.
Her plea deal carries a recommended sentence of 3.5-4 years in prison.
The troubled treasurer has worked on dozens of political campaigns, including two East Bronx Republicans’ earlier this year.
Archived NYC Campaign Finance Board web pages show that both Marmorato and her top GOP challenger George Havranek listed Marks and her company Campaigns Unlimited as the treasurer for their committees from January through late February. By the end of March, however, both candidates had hired new campaign treasurers.
Marmorato said she was ready to cut ties once news started to come out about Marks when she resigned from Santos’ campaign in late January, but it took time to find a replacement.
“I know a reporter had called my father’s house asking about Nancy and my involvement with Nancy, and I knew that I had to part ways with her because that would have just been a big distraction,” she told the Bronx Times.
Havranek said he hired Marks after she was “highly recommended” to him by Bronx…
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