George Santos, who grew to become the primary overtly homosexual Republican to win a Home seat, could also be a fraud
George Santos, who made historical past final month when he flipped a aggressive New York seat to grow to be the primary overtly homosexual Republican member of the US Home of Representatives, allegedly made up his life story, in response to the New York Occasions, which belatedly dug into the congressman’s previous on Monday.
Santos introduced himself because the “full embodiment of the American Dream,” a second-generation Brazilian immigrant, former Wall Road banker and actual property investor who rescued animals in his spare time. Nonetheless, the Occasions was unable to confirm a lot as his faculty diploma – not to mention his work resume, charitable works, his household actual property empire, and even his house tackle.
The outlet discovered that whereas he was supposedly finding out finance at Baruch School, Brazilian court docket data present Santos was being prosecuted for allegedly stealing the checkbook of a person his mom was caring for. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs might discover no document of Santos working for them. Santos additionally claimed to be a landlord managing 13 properties, however no data exist of his proudly owning property in New York Metropolis or Lengthy Island. He was, nonetheless, evicted twice from residences in Queens, in 2015 and 2017.
Even Santos’ animal rescue “charity,” Buddies of Pets United, was not registered as a nonprofit, and a New Jersey animal rescue group that partnered with him for a fundraiser advised the Occasions it by no means acquired its share of the cash.
Santos did work for Harbor Metropolis Capital, an funding firm charged with operating a $17 million Ponzi scheme, although he insists he left earlier than costs have been filed. Whereas he listed over $1 million in earnings and dividends from an organization he based on marketing campaign monetary disclosures, the scarce public details about the agency is self-contradictory. When the Occasions tried to interview the congressman concerning the holes in his story on the tackle the place he’s registered to vote, the person who answered the door claimed to not know him.
It stays unclear why the Democratic Occasion didn’t do fundamental opposition analysis on Santos, a vocal Trump ally who questioned the authenticity of the 2020 election outcomes and opposed abortion rights. The incumbent Democrat Tom Suozzi deserted his seat to problem Kathy Hochul for governor, leading to a seven-way major combat, whereas Santos ran unopposed as a Republican.
Santos’ marketing campaign responded to the allegeations on Monday, together with his lawyer, Joseph Murray, saying it was “no shock that Congressman-elect Santos has enemies on the New York Occasions who’re trying to smear his good identify with these defamatory allegations.”
