What do former U.S. Rep. Jared Santos’ falsehoods tell us about his life and his alleged criminal activity in Brazil?
His appearance at a black-tie event in Manhattan attended by white nationalists and the right-wing conspiracy theorists underscored his ties to Mr. Trump.
At the same time, new revelations uncovered by The Times — including the omission of key information on Mr. Santos’s personal financial disclosures, and criminal charges for check fraud in Brazil — have the potential to create ethical and possibly legal challenges once he takes office.
Santos has mostly refused to address the litany of falsehoods and fabrications he told about his life during his time as a candidate. In a rare interview with the New York Post shortly after reports of his falsehoods first surfaced, Santos only copped to “embellishing my resume.” He flatly denied any criminal activity.
The lawyer said that the congressman-elect has enemies at The New York Times who are trying to make false accusations against him.
Mr. Santos has said he was born in Queens to parents who emigrated from Brazil and was raised in the borough. His father, he has said, is Catholic and has roots in Angola. His mother is descended from people who fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine and World War II in Belgium. Mr. Santos has described himself as a nonobservant Jew but has also said he is Catholic.
A Brazilian man accused of lying about his personal life in 2008 when he was not found by a prosecuting court: Bruno Simes, a lawyer facing a Brazilian criminal investigation
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Bruno Simões said that Santos in 2008 paid for merchandise using a pair of stolen checks and forging the signature of the account owner.
Brazilian law enforcement officials are about to resurrect fraud charges against him, because of a recent onslaught of publicity surrounding a lie about his personal life.
The Civil Police were requested to take judicial measures against Santos in June of 2011. He was summoned to respond to a complaint by a judge. Neither Santos nor an attorney ever responded. A few months later, authorities tried to deliver a summons for the man to his mother’s house, but he was not found and her home no longer existed.
Again in 2013, neither Santos, nor his mother or grandmother at their former addresses, were able to be located. In October of that year he was summoned by the justice gazette to appear in court because he was unable to be located. He was given 10 days to come up with a defense, but never showed up. A judge eventually suspended the statute of limitations in order for the case to be reopened later if Santos was found, the documents show.
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.”
Santos, who helped Republicans win a narrow House majority last year when he flipped a Democratic-held seat, is set to take office on Tuesday despite admitting to lying about parts of his resume after The New York Times first revealed that Santos’ biography appeared to be partly fictional.
In interviews with WABC radio and the New York Post on December 26, Santos admitted to lying about attending Baruch College and New York University as well as misrepresenting his employment at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup but said at the time he still intended to serve in Congress.
Two days later, CNN reported that the US attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York had begun investigating the finances of Santos, who faces questions over his wealth and loans totaling more than $700,000 he made to his successful 2022 campaign.
A Brazilian Former Bank Clerk allegedly Defrauded out of $1,300$ by George Santos: “Tues, don’t feel guilty”
The Nassau County District Attorney said at the time that no one is above the law if a crime is committed in the county.
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.
Santos’ FEC reports contain a number of unusual expenditures, including exorbitant expenses on air travel and hotels, as well as a number of expenses one penny below the dollar figure above which the FEC requires campaigns to keep receipts.
Santos signed two checks at the store as if he was the account owner, court documents show. The checks were intended to pay for the purchase in two installments – set for July 25 and August 25, 2008.
The store manager told the police in 2010 that the clerk had to pay for the fraudulent purchase in installments, although the store waved some of the payments for him. Soon after the sale, they were able to find the bank account’s owner and talk to him on the phone, the manager said. He said he lost the checkbook and closed the account.
At one point the clerk was able to track down Santos using social media and, he said, Santos promised to pay him back but never did. The clerk turned over pictures of Santos to police that he had found on social media. The conversations between the clerk and the convict are included in the documents.
A Brazilian former shop clerk allegedly defrauded out of more than $1,300 by George Santos has a message to voters who cast ballots for the Republican congressman-elect: “Don’t feel guilty, he does that really well. He’s a professional liar.”
“You’re not going to be suspicious of someone who is well-spoken, educated, gentile… He sort of disarms people with those skills so that he can execute those frauds, ” Simões said.
Why did Santos and his friend George be robbed in Brazil? When Jorge Simones found out about his crime, he apologized
When it became clear they were fraudulent, the shop’s owner demanded Simões, then in his early 20s, pay the damages – roughly equal to four months’ salary. Simes were paid in installments by the shop owner.
“I was very frustrated. Simes said that being deceived is a terrible feeling. Being mugged by a gun who robs you can get angry, but being deceived, being fooled, someone acting in bad faith to steal from you, it is an even worse feeling.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been robbed in Brazil when I was younger, by someone armed… and I can guarantee you that I felt more frustrated in George’s case, who abused my good faith,” he continued.
In a 2009 social media exchange with Simões, Santos promised to repay him, saying, “I know I screwed up and I want to pay up.” But Simões said Santos never made good on the pledge and, barring a court order, doesn’t have “high hopes” he’ll ever see the money again.
“Even though he confessed to his crime, he never looked me up to pay his debt. At the time I had to take the debt, which was quite high,” Simões told CNN.
“Some people make mistakes and regret them, and others seem to never regret and end up living their whole lives as a fraud. I believe that is the case with George,” Simões said. The chances of me getting this money back is very low.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/politics/george-santos-brazilian-clerk-fraud/index.html
When he discovered his fake checks in the ephemeral office of a New York Republican, Jeremiah Simes
On Wednesday in Washington, the embattled New York Republican was trailed by reporters through the hallways and tunnels of the US Capitol as the scrutiny and condemnation over his fabrications intensify.
The authorities wrote in a report that Santos admitted to forging the signatures on the checks, as well as destroying the rest.
Simes thought it was important to tell his story because he looked like he was still invested in this career of fraud, faking information and lying.
The man who Simes went after for stealing from him almost 15 years before was elected to Congress. Simes searched his name online after a local reporter pointed him out.
He said it was a mix of shock and comical when it came to the revelation. It was difficult to see the picture of him in a suit.
“I saw his photo and I remembered very clearly the photos I had seen of him when he was 19 years old. I asked how it is possible for a criminal to be elected as a congressman. That was so unbelievable that I was amazed.