Did Republican Consultant-elect George Santos lie about his life story?

The biography of newly elected Congress member George Santos appeared fairly spectacular. The 34-year-old son of immigrants had graduated from Baruch Faculty, a public faculty in New York, earlier than occurring to work at corporations like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Santos finally grew to become a profitable financier who began an animal rescue charity. The issue is that biography was apparently a lie, and now he could be going through not solely political penalties however authorized penalties for his wholesale innovations.

As revealed in the New York Occasions on December 19, it wasn’t simply that Santos exaggerated his résumé — he had allegedly invented it out of complete fabric.

The Occasions discovered that he apparently didn’t graduate from Baruch Faculty, he didn’t work for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, there have been no information of him being a profitable financier, nor have been there of him registering his animal rescue charity. The Occasions additionally discovered that he had been charged with examine fraud in Brazil.

Additional, a variety of retailers have discovered no proof of Santos’s repeated claims to be Jewish, to have Jewish heritage, or to be descended from refugees fleeing the Holocaust. Santos even described himself at one level as a “proud American Jew” in a marketing campaign place paper.

In a media tour with pleasant retailers on December 26, Santos admitted to placing “just a little little bit of fluff” on his résumé. In different phrases, he conceded that he by no means graduated from faculty, by no means labored for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, and wasn’t Jewish (although he claimed to be “Jew-ish”). Santos dismissed mendacity about primary biographical info as embellishment, and he pushed again on the Occasions’s reporting about his felony cost in Brazil. “I’m not a felony,” he advised the New York Submit.

The story has sparked one of many more strange political scandals in American historical past. Members of Congress have dedicated homicide in workplace. In truth, a member of Congress has even killed one other member of Congress. Even within the current day, we’ve seen each scandal beneath the solar, from Anthony Weiner tweeting a lewd image of himself, to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s notorious Fb publish about Jewish house lasers. Nevertheless it’s onerous to think about a precedent for a scandal like this as Santos faces requires his resignation from fellow Republicans and investigations into potential felony misconduct.

Who’s George Santos?

There are some issues we learn about Santos. The overtly homosexual son of Brazilian immigrants, he was elected in November to an open congressional seat that features a skinny slice of Queens and far of the North Shore of Lengthy Island in Nassau County. Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman by a margin of 54 p.c to 46 p.c. This represented a significant swing from 2020 when Biden had gained the district by the identical margin. That yr, Santos ran in opposition to incumbent Tom Suozzi in an identical district and misplaced handily by a margin of 56 p.c to 43.5 p.c.

Santos can be an ardent Trump supporter — a lot in order that he was at Trump’s Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, and has repeatedly falsely claimed that the previous president gained the 2020 election.

Additionally, for all his alleged mendacity about his résumé, it’s clear that one firm Santos labored at, Harbor Metropolis Capital, has been accused by the Securities and Change Fee of being a Ponzi scheme. As for Santos’s different employment, he did spend a stint as a Portuguese language customer support agent for DISH Community a decade in the past.

Santos has additionally been accused of establishing a GoFundMe that raised $3,000 to pay for lifesaving surgical procedure for the dying service canine of a disabled homeless veteran after which pocketing the cash. He responded on Twitter by claiming “the stories that I might let a canine die is surprising & insane.” Santos added, “Over the previous 24hr I’ve obtained footage of canine I helped cut back all through the years together with supportive messages.”

Santos has additionally pushed again in opposition to the declare that he wearing drag whereas dwelling in Brazil. A drag performer who goes by the identify Eula Rochard advised a number of retailers that Santos used to carry out in drag beneath the identify “Kitara Ravache.”

Santos mounted an aggressive denial Thursday morning on Twitter. “The newest obsession from the media claiming that I’m a drag Queen or ‘carried out’ as a drag Queen is categorically false,” stated the embattled New York Republican. “The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life whereas I’m working to ship outcomes.”

On Saturday, he conceded to reporters at LaGuardia Airport that he did costume in drag however that he was merely having “enjoyable at a competition.”

What don’t we all know?

We don’t know so much. This ranges from primary info about Santos’s biography to particulars about his dealings with the Brazilian felony justice system, and the whole lot in between, together with the place he really lives.

However most significantly, we don’t know the place Santos’s cash comes from. The consultant loaned his personal marketing campaign $700,000 in the course of the 2022 cycle and claimed an earnings of $750,000. He additionally listed thousands and thousands of {dollars} in belongings together with an residence in Rio De Janeiro price as much as $1 million and a seven-figure financial savings account. It’s a significant shift in fortune for somebody who was evicted twice, in 2015 and 2017, for failing to pay lease and had been taken to courtroom for not paying money owed. Even in 2020, he reported earnings in just one class — compensation in extra of $5,000 paid by one supply — with no different belongings.

Santos initially offered no info on his funds on his media tour, besides to concede that he owned no property. He had beforehand claimed on Twitter to be a landlord who owned 13 properties. The consultant finally claimed in an interview with Semafor that his newfound wealth got here from “capital introduction” the place he helped dealer offers for the rich. Santos used a yacht sale for example of how he earned a dwelling, “When you’re a $20 million yacht, my referral charge there might be anyplace between $200,000 and $400,000.”

What occurs now?

Santos is already being investigated by federal and native prosecutors whereas the workplace of New York Lawyer Common Letitia James has been “wanting into a number of the points which have come out.” Additional, a grievance has been filed with the Federal Election Fee (FEC) by the nonpartisan Marketing campaign Authorized Middle alleging Santos illegally hid the supply of the cash he loaned his marketing campaign by a straw donor scheme and different alleged violations, together with whether or not he used marketing campaign funds to pay for private bills. The Washington Submit reported Friday that the Justice Division has requested the FEC to carry off any enforcement actions in order that it will probably pursue a felony investigation.

Dan Goldman, a fellow consultant from New York and a former prosecutor, has steered that Santos face felony investigation for conspiracy to defraud the USA in addition to submitting false statements to the FEC.

In a December interview with Vox, Goldman shied away from weighing in on whether or not Santos needs to be denied his seat in Congress. “I believe the larger query shouldn’t be whether or not I believe George Santos needs to be a member of Congress. The larger query is whether or not Kevin McCarthy and the Republican management suppose that George Santos needs to be a member of Congress.”

Quite a few Santos’s fellow Republicans have referred to as on him to resign as properly. The Nassau County Republican Social gathering, lengthy thought-about essentially the most highly effective county celebration in New York, referred to as on Santos to step down as produce other fellow New York Republicans, together with Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams. Joe Cairo, the chair of the Nassau County GOP, advised reporters, “George Santos’ marketing campaign final yr was a marketing campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication” whereas demanding his resignation.

Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), one in all solely two Jewish Republicans within the Home and a longtime Trump White Home aide, referred to as on Santos to resign in mid January, and cited the New York Republican’s lies about his household ties to the Holocaust in doing so. Republican management has equivocated, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy acknowledging that whereas Santos has “an extended solution to go to earn belief” and nonetheless has to face investigation by the Home Ethics Committee, Santos continues to be “part of the Republican convention.” However McCarthy acknowledged to reporters on Wednesday that if the Ethics Committee discovered that Santos broke the legislation, the New York Republican needs to be ousted from Congress.

Nonetheless, as of now, McCarthy wants Santos virtually as a lot as Santos wants McCarthy. McCarthy solely grew to become speaker by the pores and skin of his enamel on the fifteenth poll. With a slender majority — and the probability of frequent member absences now that the Home has gotten rid of proxy voting — McCarthy wants each vote he can get.

Additional, as a result of Santos represents probably the most Democratic seats in Congress held by a Republican, forcing him to resign beneath any circumstance is dangerous. It will be a tough seat for a Republican to carry in a particular election and a loss would additional imperil an already slim GOP majority.

Within the meantime, it’s a matter of ready for the following shoe to drop. As unsustainable as the present established order might sound, the one impetus proper now for Santos to resign could be a way of disgrace, and it appears unlikely that he carries that burden.

Replace, January 27, 9:41 pm ET: This story was initially revealed on December 21 and has been up to date a number of occasions, as extra particulars have been reported about Santos’s background and requires him to resign.