Photo: John Locher/AP Photo
Embattled New York Rep.George Santosfiled paperwork on Tuesday indicating that he intends to run for reelection in 2024 — even as controversy swirls about lies he told on the campaign trail and multiple authorities conduct investigations into his finances.
Astatement of candidacyfiled Tuesday indicates that Santos will again seek the District 3 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a seat he was elected into in November, shortly before a bombshellNew York Timesreport found that many of the claims he made on the campaign trail and on his resume were unsubstantiated.
The outlet alleged that he misled voters about his level of education, previous jobs and family ties to the Holocaust, news that earned him bipartisan condemnation for misrepresenting himself.
Santos himself acknowledged that he had “embellished” significant portions of his resume, telling theNew York Postthathe lied aboutworking at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as he had previously asserted, and about attending Baruch College and New York University (he did not attend college).
In 2020, when Santos launched his first, ultimately unsuccessful run for the House, he stated in a financial disclosure that he had no assets and no earned income.
Santos has said the funds came from his company, the Devolder Organization, whichThe Washington Postreports was organized just one month before the Republican declared his latest candidacy in 2021.
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Santos is currentlyunder federal investigation over questions about his finances, and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office in New York has announced that it, too,is investigating the incoming lawmakerfor fabrications that District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly called “nothing short of stunning.”
Santos recently told colleagues he wouldtemporarily resignfrom his assignments on the Small Business and Science Committees while various investigations into his past play out.
Federal investigators are also reportedly looking into claims that Santos oncescammed a Navy veteran out of $3,000meant for his ailing service dog, CNN andPoliticoreported in February.
In recent weeks, allegations directed at Santos have grown, with the lawmaker’s ex-roommate saying the freshman congressman once spearheaded acredit card-skimming fraud at ATMs.
Politicoreports that the former roommate — Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha — made the allegations in a sworn declaration submitted to the FBI.
Trelha wasconvicted of the fraudin 2017, Politico reports, and deported to Brazil as a result. In his sworn declaration, Trelha claims, “the person in charge of the crime of credit card fraud when I was arrested was George Santos / Anthony Devolder.”
source: people.com
