Former Treasurer for Zeldin & Santos’ Campaigns Under Scrutiny for Financial Improprieties 

Edited by: TJVNews.com

With hopes of continuing a career in public service, former GOP Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin is forming a new federal fundraising PAC. Some reports indicate that he would be interested in running against New York’s junior US Senator, Kirstin Gillibrand, but this has not been confirmed.

This time around, however, Zeldin has parted ways with his longtime campaign treasurer , Nancy Marks, as it appears that she also worked for embattled GOP Rep. George Santos. At the end of January, Marks tendered her resignation to Santos as he finds himself facing multiple investigations over his dubious finances and repeated lies about his resume and biography.

At the New York State Conservative Party Political Action Conference in Albany that took place on Monday, Zeldin said, “We will be announcing a new federal PAC that is being stood up right now utilizing a different treasurer.”

The New York Post reported that Zeldin seemed eager to distance himself Santos and Marks, who are mired in allegations of campaign finance irregularities. “The treasurer has something like close to 200 different accounts,” Zeldin said.

Of the mushrooming situation with Santos in terms of possible illegalities in his campaign, Zeldin said:  “There are many investigations going on. Different levels of government, FEC, House Ethics Committee, an international investigation apparently going on as well. I don’t know whether or not he’s going to stay there for the remainder of his term, “ the Post reported.

Marks had served as a campaign treasurer for Zeldin since his time in the state Senate over a decade ago, the Post reported. She resigned from Santos’ campaign and affiliated committees late last month. The Federal Election Commission, along with federal and local law enforcement, is probing allegations of financial impropriety in Santos’ campaign.

According to a recently published New York Times report, had been with Santos since his first run for office, assisting with accounting and fundraising and joining him in at least one for-profit business endeavor.

CNN reported that similar patterns emerged in 2020 campaign reports submitted to federal regulators in both the Zeldin and Santos campaigns.  It appears that a series of anomalous expenses were posted such as 21 payments on a single day of exactly $199.99 each in both the Zeldin and Santos campaigns. In her position as treasurer Marks was responsible for all things in the financial real.  The outlays – each just one penny below the dollar figure above which campaigns are required to keep receipts – all went to anonymous recipients, CNN reported.

Marks, a consultant who resides in Shirley, Long Island is now the focus of scrutiny. Despite the fact that she told the Federal Election Commission that she has left her position with the Santos campaign, legal experts say that this will not shield her from being the target of investigations into financial improprieties in the Santos campaign.

The FEC has reported that Marks’ filings on behalf of Santos’ campaign are the subject of complaints centered on allegations that records were falsified in violation of federal law, CNN reported.

And her ties to Santos extend beyond filing compliance reports with federal regulators. She also was paid for fundraising services, federal records show, CNN reported.  In addition, state records in Florida show companies tied to her and Santos were stakeholders in a for-profit enterprise established shortly after he launched his 2022 congressional bid, as was reported by CNN.

Paul Krieger, a former federal prosecutor told CNN of Marks,  “Given her apparent history and relationship with Mr. Santos, I have to assume that any investigation of him will focus intensely on her role and her knowledge of how the fundraising was organized, accomplished and carried out especially in light of the fact that she’s now resigned.”

Krieger also said that Marks’ shared history with Santos on other endeavors would make her an even more interesting person for law enforcement to talk to.

Marks’ resignation on January 25^th came on the same day that the Santos campaign committee, as well as several affiliated financial committees, filed paperwork stating that Marks was being replaced as treasurer by Thomas Datwyler, the NYT reported.

But Datwyler, a veteran campaign finance consultant affiliated with a number of Republican committees, said that he had told Santos’ team that he was not interested in assuming those duties, the NYT reported. His lawyer, Derek Ross, sent a letter to the FEC saying that Datwyler “did not file or authorize” the new campaign paperwork and that he did not authorize the forms “to be signed on his behalf.”

Marks and her firm, Campaigns Unlimited, represent dozens of New York-based political committees, state records show, CNN reported. Newsday reported that among Marks’ client list are 90 candidates, political action committees, and political groups on the New York State-level for whom she is the current treasurer, according to Board of Election records requested by The Point.

Those records show Marks’ treasurer service for Lee Zeldin and the Rise Ny Pac run by Santos’ sister, both of which have received attention in recent weeks, Newsday reported.

The Newsday report also indicated that Marks also fills the campaign role for a host of recent Suffolk politicians such as Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth, DA hopeful Ray Perini, and Amos Goodman, a former East Hampton Town Republican Party Chairman who was sentenced in 2021 in connection with forging signatures on nominating petitions submitted to the Board of Elections.  Marks has been treasurer for wider political groups such as the Suffolk County Restaurant & Tavern Assoc., the New York State Bail Bondsmen Association, and New York State Republican Latino Committee PACs, Newsday reported.

The records show some interesting clients, including the residency-challenged Assembly campaign of Lester Chang and the onetime Queens DA campaign of Santos’ current personal attorney Joe Murray. Newsday reported that despite her Republican background, Marks is the treasurer of record for Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, who is a registered Democrat but has also been a Republican, blank, and Independence Party member.

After Marks resigned from Santos’ campaign, Schneiderman said he reached out to her to make sure his finances were in order.

“I did ask her if she had done anything wrong,” he told CNN. “She said, ‘Absolutely not.’ I said, ‘Are there any violations you’re being accused of?’ She said ‘no,’ ” Schneiderman recalled.

Marks, he said, assured him that his books were fine. CNN reported that Schneiderman, who is not running for reelection since he has met term limits, said if Marks is involved in any corruption or malfeasance, he would fire her immediately. He added, “I don’t know what, if anything, she’s done wrong.”

“Is she the problem or the victim here?” he wondered.

CNN reported that Santos has publicly sought to distance himself from his campaign’s disclosures to the Federal Election Commission. After Marks filed a raft of amendments last month that raised questions about the six-figure loans he said he made to his campaign, Santos insisted he had nothing to do with the filings.

“I don’t touch any of my FEC stuff, right?” he told CNN at the time. “So, don’t be disingenuous and report that I did because you know that every campaign hires fiduciaries.”