Long Island Representative George Santos has received federal charges and is slated to turn himself into authorities Wednesday, May 10th. The Justice Department unsealed the indictment for 34-year-old Santos, revealing 13 counts of federal charges against the New York Republican.
Santos has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of public funds theft.
While on the campaign trail to represent New York’s third Congressional District, his consulting firm, Devolder Organization, reportedly loaned the campaign over $700,000. Though he claimed to have been earning $750,000 from the consulting firm, reports say that before winning the seat, Santos had an annual salary of $55,000.
During his time in the House of Representatives, the Republican legislator has notably lied on several occasions, even confessing to the fabrications about his previous work experience and background.
Santos claimed to have received a degree from Baruch College, which was later proven to be false with the representative having never graduated from college. He also claimed to have worked for the investment banking company Goldman Sachs, which was also false. Santos claimed that his late mother was in the Twin Towers during the 9/11 terrorist attack, but it was disproven as he admitted she was in Brazil at the time. After claiming Jewish heritage as part of his campaign, Santos later backtracked, saying he and his family were Catholic and that he “never claimed to be Jewish” but rather that his maternal family was Jewish prior to converting to Catholicism, making him “Jew-ish.”
Upon the realization that a majority of details about Representative Santos had been fabricated, people began protesting and calling for his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives, including other members of the House. Within one year of winning his election, Santos was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
New York Representative Daniel Goldman said, “Now that Santos has been indicted, it is incumbent on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to eliminate the stain of Santos on this hallowed institution by removing him from Congress immediately. We cannot wait any longer.”
This story is developing.
