The Times Investigates the Decree of J. J. Santos on his Personal Financial Disclosures and Corrupt Crimes in Brazil
His appearance earlier this month at a gala in Manhattan attended by white nationalists and right-wing conspiracy theorists underscored his ties to Mr. Trump’s right-wing base.
New revelations by The Times concerning Mr. Santos’s personal financial disclosures and criminal charges in Brazil could create ethical and legal difficulties once he takes office.
CNN has reached out to Santos for comment, and Joseph Murray, an attorney for him, told CNN in a statement on Monday that the Times was attempting to “smear” the congressman-elect with “defamatory allegations.” The Times report said Santos did not respond to repeated requests to furnish documents that would help to substantiate the claims while campaigning.
There is no doubt that Santos deceived voters in his district. His experience and his resume were both important in his case. There are many unanswered questions about his finances and net worth and he has proved himself to be untruthful.
Santos was similarly dismissive of reporting on his false claims of Jewish heritage. He told the Post that he didn’t claim to be Jewish. “I am Catholic. I said I was jew-ish because I knew my maternal family was Jewish.
According to Brazil’s court records, Mr.Santos stole a checkbook from a man who was caring for his mother. Police and court records show that Mr. Santos used the checkbook to make fraudulent purchases, including a pair of shoes. Two years later, Mr. Santos confessed to the crime and was later charged.
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“Santos represents the kind of progress that the Left is so threatened by – a gay, Latino, immigrant and Republican who won a Biden district in overwhelming fashion by showing everyday voters that there is a better option than the broken promises and failed policies of the Democratic Party,” Murray said.
On a biography of Santos on the National Republican Congressional Committee website, he claimed he received degrees from New York University and Barcuch College. CNN was able to confirm that in at least two separate interviews in the fall of 2020 he stated that he received anMBA from NYU and that he had zero debt from his undergrad and graduate studies. His campaign websites do not show references to a master’s degree.
The New York Times first revealed last week that Santos’ biography appeared to be partly fictional. CNN confirmed details of that reporting, including about his college education and employment history.
CNN also confirmed that Santos listed on his 2022 financial disclosure a salary of $750,000 this year and last at the Devolder Organization, which Santos has claimed is a “family firm” managing $80 million in assets.
A search for the Devolder Organization found that the business was registered in Florida in 2021 and was most recently temporarily deemed “inactive” by the state after failing to file the required annual reports. The website and LinkedIn profile ofSantos could not be found, he failed to report any clients he served in his financial disclosure.
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Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a newly drawn district covering parts of Queens and some nearby Long Island suburbs, flipping control to Republicans, who dominated the New York suburbs on their way to winning a House majority. The GOP mini-wave outside the city set off roiling recriminations among New York Democrats, including calls for the state party chair to step down.
Teodora Choolfaian, a Nassau County mother, said she voted for Santos in part because of his positions on Covid-19 measures in schools. She attended a rally organized by state Democrats this week to call for his resignation. She said Santos is a “fraud.”
One of New York’s most influential Republicans, Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr., issued his own statement Monday, blasting Santos for “lies” that “broke the public trust.”
Cairo believes every person deserves an opportunity to clear their name when facing accusations.
However, Murray offered no facts, evidence or documents to contradict the Times article, which also found Santos appears to have fabricated key details of his business career.
“Only in this country does someone who comes from a basement apartment in Jackson Heights become a successful business person and run for Congress after that?” he said.
Santos had also claimed that he lost four employees in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. He now says it was four prospective employees, but he did not give any names or other details.
The people that worked for me at the time were those that worked at the club. “My company at the time, we lost four employees that were at Pulse.”
The NJ Rep.-elect George Santos is a Jewish, Left-Right Rep. and a “Family of Pets United”
The North Shore Leader newspaper endorsed the opponent of Santos and voiced skepticism about his credibility.
House Republican leadership has remained silent on Santos and Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy has dodged questions from CNN and others on the issue. It is unlikely House GOP leadership will refuse to seat Santos on Tuesday, and Santos has said he intends to serve in Congress.
Discrepancies on New York Rep.-elect George Santos’ resume are “serious” and the GOP politician “deserves an opportunity” to clear his name in the face of accusations, a top Republican in Nassau County said Monday.
The discrepancies raise questions for Santos, as he prepares to take on his role as a lawmaker with the new GOP majority in the House of Representatives.
“We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement. “He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He began his tenure in Congress on the wrong note.
Josh Lafazan is a member of the Nassau County Legislature in New York and is a former candidate for New York 3rd Congressional District.
The congressman said he would write to the ethics committee requesting an investigation and that the attorney general should look into possible campaign finance violations.
But let’s be clear – Santos is exactly who you don’t want in office. He is a man who seemingly has no problem lying for self-aggrandizement and personal gain; a man who, even when caught, demonstrates little remorse or accountability; a man who still insists that he should be vested with significant political power.
Santos also claimed he founded and ran his own charity called “Friends of Pets United.” But no such organization was found in the IRS’ searchable database, nor in the registered charities in New York state and Florida.
Rep.-Elected Rep. J. G. Santos in the 118th Congressional Session of the Democratic Causal Ethics Committee
The author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind” is a journalist based in New York. She can be followed on her account on the micro-blogging site. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. CNN has more opinion on it.
For example, he claimed he worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, listing specific roles he held in these organizations. He says he had a poor choice of words and that he simply connected to both companies through his actual employment at Link Bridge.
He has a pattern of lying and downplaying his lies, so why should the public trust him anymore? And how should the GOP respond?
Legal experts say the scandal is unlikely to prevent next month’s inauguration ofSantos because Republican leaders stopped short of suggesting he step aside.
Santos tried to downplay the scope of the fabrications but apologized for a few of them, arguing he only put a bit of fluff in his resume.
There were calls for the congressman-elect to resign and for the House to expel him, after he acknowledged faking a resume in an attempt to get a job.
The House ethics committee is an investigative panel that is divided between Republicans and Democrats but has limited options for doling out repercussions.
The GOP Rep.-elect said in his statement that a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee was required and that law enforcement was also needed.
In the past, the California Republican has shown little appetite for punishing his own members for bad behavior – particularly when it comes to actions from before they were a member of Congress. McCarthy won’t comment on members being under investigation because he wants the investigations to play out before determining how to proceed.
“This will not deter me from being an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session,” Santos told City & State in an interview posted Monday night.
Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., said Tuesday that Santos “has broken the public trust” and “has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters.”
A growing number of critics, including some in the Republican Party, say Santos’ outright lied when he claimed to be “a proud Jewish American” and said members of his family escaped the Holocaust.
CNN’s KFile reported that claims by Santos that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium who changed their surname are contradicted by sources including family trees compiled by genealogy websites, records on Jewish refugees and interviews with multiple genealogists.
The Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday said the incoming congressman had “misrepresented his heritage” and “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”
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“A lot of people overstate on their resumes or twist a little bit or (sic) engranduate themselves,” Santos told WABC radio. “I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that.”
Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.
He now acknowledges none of that is true. He admits that he made up his story about the four people who died in the 2016 nightclub shooting in Florida.
“He’s constitutionally entitled to his seat,” said Richard Briffault, an expert on campaign law at Columbia University, who noted the Constitution doesn’t disqualify candidates for lying.
CNN’s KFile has reported on several other false claims Santos has made, including that he was forced to leave a New York City private school when his family’s real estate assets took a downturn. In December 2020, Santos falsely claimed that his mother “fled socialism” in Europe and moved to the United States.
Dan Goldman, who won a House seat last month, said all of Mr. Santos’ disclosures must be thoroughly investigated by the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance fraud.
In interviews, Santos repeatedly blamed growing questions about his past on what he describes as the liberal media and said he still has the support of voters in his Long Island district.
The federal investigation came just as the Nassau County District Attorney announced that it is looking into the fabrications fromSantos.
“The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.
She said that residents of the 3rd Congressional District must have a representative who is honest and accountable in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”
Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, also a soon-to-be freshman member from New York, urged his fellow Republican cooperate with any investigations and called on Santos to apologize, calling the whole controversy a “distraction.” Lawler added that by downplaying action’s, Santos is “only making things worse.”
He is scheduled to be sworn in next Tuesday, when the U.S. House reconvenes. He would be investigated by the House Committee on Ethics and the Justice Department if he were to take office.
The Republican has confessed to lying about having Jewish heritage, a college degree, and a Wall Street career, but he has yet to address questions about his sudden fortune, his evictions and his back rent.
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A spokesperson for the Nassau County DA’s office, Brendan Brosh, said Wednesday: “We are looking into the matter.” The scope of the investigation was not immediately clear.
He admitted to lying about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as having earned a degree in finance and economics from Baruch College in New York.
He backtracked on that claim, saying he never intended to claim Jewish heritage, which would have likely raised his appeal among his district’s significant ranks of Jewish voters.
His Democratic opponent, Robert Zimmerman, also tried to raise Santos’ misrepresentations during his losing campaign, but it didn’t gain much traction.
Expenditures that are unusual include air travel to and from Miami, and rent payments to a business called Cleaner 123, which was listed as paying $10,900 for air travel and hotels. The company’s address is a house on Long Island, and The New York Times, which first published a story on Santos’ campaign finance filings, reported that a neighbor said Santos had been living there for months.
The reports contain excessive expenses on air travel, hotels and other things, as well as one penny below the dollar figure of the FEC that campaigns are required to keep.
The expenditures, and particularly the $199.99 payments to Uber, Walgreens, Walmart, Best Buy, Delta Airlines, Il Bacco Restaurante and more, “definitely stood out to me,” said campaign finance expert Paul S. Ryan, the deputy executive director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation.
He said the payments could reflect an effort to skirt FEC requirements for campaigns to keep receipts for expenditures over $200. The FEC encourages candidates to keep receipts below that threshold, but only mandates them for payments over $200.
However, Ryan said, the consistent appearance of $199.99 charges effectively shows that Santos knew about the threshold he was attempting to skirt – potentially inviting Justice Department scrutiny and criminal penalties.
“My view is a bunch of expenditures right below legal requirement for the committee to keep receipts is evidence that he knew what he was doing,” Ryan said. “If in fact he did misuse campaign funds, this was a blatant effort to evade detection.”
Many who voted for him in New York say they will not support him again despite the revelations of how he lied about his biography.
She said that the person that he created and the ability to deceive us was troubling. “This man should not be allowed to be in office and we all know it. I want to assure you the Republicans know it too.”
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Tom Zmich, a former congressional candidate in the neighboring 6th District, said Santos is a friend of his and “hasn’t done anything wrong, as far as legality wise.”
The donor explained that she had supported Santos because he was the frontrunner in her local race, and, “I had no reason to think that he would have done what he did.”
In a text message,Santos said he had been in touch with the office of congressional ethics.
Another campaign donor, who similarly requested anonymity to speak freely, told CNN on Friday that she “of course is shocked” following the news of the congressman-elect’s alleged deception and feels “betrayed and lied to.”
Yet I’m clinging to my sense of optimism. I believe that as slow and frustrating as it sometimes is, our democracy, our free press and the rule of law work. They have to.
Rep.-elect George Santos of New York is scheduled to be sworn in to Congress on Tuesday as he faces mounting scrutiny and condemnation over lies about his biography and amid an investigation by federal prosecutors into his finances.
The vote for the House speaker at the US Capitol is set to start after noon on Tuesday and all incoming members of the 118th Congress are expected to be sworn in after that.
Police were unable to find the man who stole a checkbook after they suspended an investigation, so prosecutors will seek a formal response from him.
In an interview with the New York Post last week, Santos denied that he had been charged with any crime in Brazil, saying: “I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”
Law enforcement officials in Brazil will reinstate fraud charges against Rep.-elect George Santos, the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office tells CNN, as the New York Republican officially assumes his role in the US House Tuesday under a cloud of suspicion over his dubious resume.
The US Justice Department will be notified of the charges when authorities verified thatSantos is in Brazil, according to a spokeswoman for the prosecutors office. CNN was told by the prosecutor that the request will be filed on Friday.
“No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said at the time.
The district attorney’s office did not specify what fabrications it was exploring and the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.