George Santos, May 25, 2023.Photo:Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
New York CongressmanGeorge Santosis now facing 23 criminal counts related to his political career.
Santos, 35, is also facing one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud and two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Additionally, Santos has been charged with two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of access device fraud.
George Santos is now facing a further 23 charges.Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images
The new charges follow 13 other counts leveled against the New York lawmaker in Mayafter an investigationinto his financial disclosures and allegedfalse claimswhile running for Congress.
The initial13-count indictmentincluded seven charges of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
George Santos, October 2023.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
He added, “Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen.”
According to Tuesday’s statement, the freshman Congressman allegedly stole people’s identities and then charged his donors’ credit cards without their authorization, often for personal gain. Additionally, Santos allegedly falsified records, created and submitted false campaign reports that listed non-existent loans, and fabricated and stole campaign contributions.
In December 2021, this allegedly included an incident where “one contributor (the ‘Contributor’) texted Santos and others to make a contribution to his campaign, providing billing information for two credit cards.” At a different time, Santos allegedly charged $12,000 to the Contributor’s credit card and then transferred a large portion of the $12,000 into his personal bank account.
In addition to the charges to the Contributor’s credit card, the prosecutors also alleged that the $500,000 loan Santos said he gave to his campaign was a fake.
The two indictments follow a December 2022New York Timesreport which found that many of Santos' claims on both the campaign trail and his resume were unsubstantiated. It was reported that Santos misled voters about his level of education, previous jobs and family ties to the Holocaust.
After theNew York Timespiece was published, Santos admitted to theNew York Postlater that month that he lied and “embellished” significant portions of his resume, including his career history as a former employee at Goldman Sachs and his college education.
“I am not a criminal. This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good,” Santos told thePost.
George Santos admitted to falsifying his resume.Jackie Molloy/Bloomberg via Getty
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In January, Santos told colleagues he wouldtemporarily resignfrom his assignments on the Small Business and Science Committees while the investigations into his conduct were ongoing.
Despite this, Santosfiled paperwork for his 2024 reelectioncampaign in March according to theFederal Election Commission website.
source: people.com
