Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking more than seven years in prison for disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), arguing that he has used criminal scandal as a springboard to wealth and fame.

Santos, elected in 2022, ran his campaign on lies about his background and fraudulent moneymaking schemes, according to a 26-page sentencing memo by the Department of Justice. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft last year.

The DOJ called him a “pathological liar and fraudster,” saying his depiction of himself “as a highly educated, independently wealthy, successful businessman” tricked victims into donating to his campaign.

“Santos planned and executed an assortment of fraudulent schemes and leveraged them and a fictitious life story to enrich himself and capture one of the highest offices in the government of the United States,” the memo said.

A number of claims Santos made on the campaign trail and while in office have been debunked.

His assertions of working at top Wall Street firms and having a college degree were not true. He also made a slew of wilder falsehoods, including, but not limited to, claiming to The New York Times that Chinese communists kidnapped his niece and telling donors he had produced the “Spider-Man” musical.

Santos also pleaded guilty to stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his own family, to keep the money flowing to his campaign.

“From his creation of a wholly fictitious biography to his callous theft of money from elderly and impaired donors, Santos’s unrestrained greed and voracious appetite for fame enabled him to exploit the very system by which we select our representatives,” the DOJ wrote.

According to a scathing report by a House Ethics committee in 2023, Santos allegedly used his campaign funds to treat himself to a number of expenses, including OnlyFans, Hermès and Botox.

When Santos pleaded guilty last year, he told reporters outside the court, “It’s not only a recognition of my misrepresentation to others, but more profoundly, it is my own recognition of the lies I told myself over these past years.”

As part of his deal with prosecutors, he agreed to pay $580,000 in fines.

Despite being ousted by Congress in 2023, Santos continued to make public appearances through interviews, Cameo, OnlyFans, and his podcast, “Pants on Fire.” Prosecutors called the podcast “a perfect crystallization of his lack of genuine contrition and his tone-deaf efforts to continue turning lies into dollars.”

The memo went on to say that Santos leveraged his “lawbreaking as a springboard to celebrity and riches.” According to prosecutors, Santos has earned more than $350,000 from his Cameo commissions alone, and was paid at least $200,000 after contracting with a documentary filmmaker.

The DOJ justified its sentencing request by stating it was necessary to “protect the public,” provide a “deterrence,” and “promote respect for the law,” all while calling Santos’s history and characteristic “extremely troubling.”

Santos’ attorney, Andrew Mancilla, slammed the sentencing request in a statement sent to HuffPost.

“The government is pushing for a draconian 7+ year sentence, cherry-picking facts and ignoring its own evidence,” he said. ”Comparable political finance cases resulted in dramatically lighter sentences - they’re clearly overreaching for headlines, not justice.”