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US congressman George Santos, who faced outrage and ridicule for various fabrications about his heritage, education and professional pedigree, has been charged with federal criminal mischief, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The charges against Santos, filed in the Eastern District of New York, remain sealed. The people could not discuss specific details about the case until it is closed and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The unsealing will happen when Santos appears in court, which could come as soon as Wednesday.
Reached Tuesday, Santos said, “This is news to me.”
“You were the first to call me about it,” he said in a brief phone interview.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. The allegations were first reported by CNN.
Costs can target funding, not resume fibs
The New York Republican admitted to lying about having Jewish ancestry, having a Wall Street background, a college degree and a history as a star volleyball player.
Serious financial questions have also arisen – including the source of what he claims is a quick fortune despite financial problems, including evictions and thousands of dollars in back rent.
Santos has resisted calls to resign and recently announced he will run for re-election. He said lying about his life story, including telling people he had a job at several global financial firms and a lavish real estate portfolio, was a harmless embellishment to his resume.
Fellow New York Republicans are among those calling for his resignation, saying he has betrayed voters and his own party by lying.
With Republicans in Congress very happy, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not demand his resignation, even though Santos resigned from the committee he was tasked with.
In addition to questions about his life story, Santos’ campaign spending has come under scrutiny for unusual payments for travel, lodging and other items.
Low income is claimed in the government
The non-partisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and asked the regulator to investigate Santos. The “mountain of lies” spread by Santos during his campaign about his life story and qualifications, the center said, should ask the commission to “investigate carefully what appears to be lies about how the campaign raised and spent money.”
In filings with the FEC, Santos initially said he loaned his campaign and related political action committees more than $750,000 — money he claimed came from a family company.
However, the wealth required to make these loans appears to be nowhere to be found. In a financial disclosure statement filed with the US House clerk in 2020, Santos said he had no assets and an annual income of $55,000. His company, the Devolder Organization, is not incorporated until spring 2021.
Last September, Santos filed another financial disclosure form reporting that this new company, incorporated in Florida, had paid him a salary of $750,000 each of the past two years, plus dividends of $1 million to $5 million. In an interview, Santos described the Devolder Organization as a business that helps rich people buy things like yachts and airplanes.
Court records show Santos was the subject of three eviction proceedings in Queens between 2014 and 2017 for nonpayment of rent.
The Nassau County Republican Committee, which supports his candidacy, said it would not support Santos for re-election.
Santos lost his first race for Congress in 2020 but ran again in 2022 and won a district that includes suburban Long Island and a slice of Queens.
A local newspaper, the North Shore Leader, had raised issues about Santos’ background before the election but it wasn’t until weeks after the election that the extent of his duplicity became public. The New York Times reported that the companies where Santos claimed to have worked, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, had no record of him being an employee.
Baruch College, where Santos claims to have earned a degree in finance and economics, said he is no longer a student.
Beyond his credentials, Santos has come up with a life story that has come into question, including claims that his grandfather “fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, lived in Belgium, and was again a fugitive during WWII.” During the campaign, he called himself a “proud American Jew.” When asked about the story, Santos, a Roman Catholic, said he had never claimed Jewish heritage.
The last congressman to be indicted, Republican Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska, resigned after a jury convicted him of lying to federal authorities about illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals.
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