WASHINGTON. The story of George Santos is very similar to those stories where fantasy trumps reality. Because the questions of how a 34-year-old man whose track record is littered with countless lies and frauds ended up filling a seat for New York State in Congress in Washington are more than answers. We know everything about Santos, but the problem is that we discovered him when he was already sworn.
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Since yesterday Santos is also there indicted on 13 counts – tax fraud, money laundering, misrepresentation and embezzlement of public funds – and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His political career ends here, whether his political boss, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is pushing for his immediate resignation or awaiting a possible conviction to oust him. In 2024, his name will no longer be on the re-election ballot. Santos will vote in the hall for the time being, but will not be part of the parliamentary commissions, he is a member of two.
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So who is Santos? He has been an MP for five months after failing to run for the seat in 2020. To pitch his candidacy, he had stuffed his résumé with a series of lies that, when cast in a dark shadow, do not even absolve the generally conscientious US media: no one has bothered to verify at least some of them Testify. Santos said he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, had two degrees and that his mother was killed in the Twin Towers attack. None of this is true. He had also told imaginative stories at rallies at his college, portraying himself as a wealthy descendant of Ukrainian Holocaust survivors, until calling himself Anthony or presenting himself at voter meetings by his mother’s surname. No reporter had called his school to verify who this boy was – openly gay, an ex-boyfriend in Brazil who poisoned every story about him – who came from nowhere and managed to win a seat in a traditionally democratic district.
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But if lying has short legs and is not a crime (except when used to authenticate false federal documents validating a candidate), Accounting tricks and money laundering Yes. Santos’ legal troubles are related to using funds donated to a fake PAC (Political Action Committee, dubbed Redstone Strategies) for personal expenses and to secure luxuries and extras. In October 2022, a friend of Santos had contacted several donors, explaining that Redstone was a 501(c)4-rated association, which is a well-being organization with no fundraising restrictions. Leaders told donors that their money would go toward the Republican campaign and television commercials. In October, for example, a transfer of $25,000 to the group arrived. Santos used them to pay off personal debts and buy designer products.
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The allegations also include the fact that Santos received unemployment benefits during the pandemic years. He received $24,000 in welfare benefits while actually working for a Florida company that paid him $120,000 a year.
The lying deputy He also deceived the Congressional Ethics Committee by filling out the income tax form. In fact, in 2020 and 2022 he was declaring untruths and reporting lower incomes than actual ones.
George Santos, the curriculum doesn’t add up: inconsistencies, lies and secrets of the Republican congressman elected in New York
FRANCESCO SEMPRINI December 26, 2022
Santon showed up at the Central Islip District Attorney’s Office yesterday morning, dodging reporters and camera crews. He entered through a side door and it is not known whether he arrived in a police car or in his private car. Yesterday afternoon he was formally charged, fingerprinted, mug shots taken and brought before the judge.
The Santos affair has important implications for Republicans and Balance on Capitol Hill. Given the narrow majority (5 votes) of Republicans, McCarthy needs every vote. But he can by no means ignore the seriousness of the allegations. Mitt Romney, a Republican senator and Obama’s rival in 2012, observed that “the wheel of justice turns slowly, but sooner or later it bears fruit.”