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Scandal-hit Republican Congressman-elect George Santos is now under multiple criminal investigations for lying about his Jewish ancestry, Wall Street bona fides, a college degree and possible financial improprieties.
Despite bipartisan condemnation about his worthiness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.
Nassau County’s GOP District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced on Wednesday afternoon that her office had opened a probe into the politician’s fabrications made before his New York election victory in the November midterms. Newsday first reported the local investigation.
‘The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress.,’ said Donnelly in a statement. ‘No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.’
Republican Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, who took office at the start of the year, told Newsday: ‘The numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning’
He is scheduled to be sworn in on January 3, when the U.S. House reconvenes.
The Republican has other issues to worry about besides his resume – including the source of his newly acquired financial fortune despite recent cash flow problems, including evictions and owing thousands in back rent.
In addition to the freshly announced local investigation, federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern district of New York are also probing Santos’ finances and financial disclosures, according to CBS News.
‘Santos will be gone by the end of his term or well before then. He should RESIGN,’ Democratic New York Rep. Ritchie Torres said of the news.
Last week, New York state Attorney General Letitia James said she was investigating Santos but did not specify the focus.
In an interview with Semafor, Santos tried to explain where his money had come from, after the Times discovered he had not worked as a ‘seasoned Wall Street financier and investor’ for Citibank and Goldman Sachs like he claimed.
New York GOP Rep.-elect George Santos has admitted to lying on his resume
The New York Republican seems to have gotten money from somewhere – filings from his 2022 campaign show he made between $3.5 million and $11.5 million from a company he founded – Devolder – and loaned his campaign $700,000.
Those earnings were a sharp turn-around from filings from a failed 2020 run for office, when disclosures showed he earned $55,000 as a vice president at business development firm LinkBridge investors.
Rather than working on Wall Street, Santos, who seemed to have financial troubles for much of his life, worked at a DISH Satellite call center from October 2011 to July 2012 in a breadline job based in the College Point section of Queens, living with roommates as he struggled to pay his bills.
Explaining the discrepancy, Santos simply said he ‘never worked directly’ for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and that he used a ‘poor choice of words.’ But in an attempt to justify his lie, he said the company he worked for, LinkBridge, did business with both Goldman and Citi.
Santos said he made ‘capital introductions’ between clients and investors at both firms.
After LinkBridge, Santos claimed he took a job with Harbor City Capital – a Florida firm the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused of running a $17 million Ponzi scheme in April 2021. Santos was not charged for his involvement with the company and left in March of that year.
He incorporated Devolder in May 2021 and said that the company’s capital introduction business included ‘deal building’ and ‘specialty consulting’ for ‘high net worth individuals.’
For example, Santos said, a client might come to him if they want to sell a boat or a private jet.
‘I’m not going to go list it and broker it,’ he said. ‘What I will do is I will go look out there within my Rolodex and be like: ‘Hey, are you looking for a plane?’ ‘Are you looking for a boat?’ I just put that feeler out there.’
He said he had a network of around 15,000 that included wealthy investors, family offices, ‘institutions’ and endowments.
Santos claimed that within six months of starting Devolder he landed ‘a couple multi-million-dollar contracts.’
‘If you’re looking at a $20 million yacht, my referral fee there can be anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000,’ he said.
He declined to specify what the multi-million-dollar contracts entailed or provide names of clients. DailyMail.com has inquired for more information.
Devolder was dissolved in September 2022 after failing to file an annual report but brought back last week as a Florida-based company after the bombshell New York Times report.
Given the timing of Devolder’s disappearance just before the November election, Rep.-elect and former federal prosecutor Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) questioned whether the company was created as a front to funnel illegal campaign donations.
Santos told Semafor the company had only shut down at that time because his accountant had filed paperwork late.
Goldman, former lead counsel in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, called on Santos to volunteer documents about his business dealings and finances to avoid formal investigations.
‘If he wants to avoid an investigation and he wants to truly come clean, as he claimed he was trying to do yesterday and that other Republican members elected called for him to do, then he should be an open book and reveal all of this related to the Devolder Organization,’ Goldman told Semafor.
Santos said he would produce the necessary documentation only for ‘proper authorities.’
‘I don’t dance to the tune of Congressman-elect Dan Goldman,’ Santos said in response to his fellow colleague. ‘I don’t dance to the tune of these guys. If it was requested of me to produce any documentation from this organization, I have no problem doing so to people with the proper authority, not to authoritarian members of congress that think they have authority over their peers.’
Santos said on Fox News Tuesday he was ready to move beyond the scandal and focus on delivering on his campaign promises.
‘I’m not a fraud. I’m not a fake. I didn’t materialize from thin air. I worked damn hard to get where I got my entire life. Life wasn’t easy. It didn’t start off easy as I’ve said it many, many times I come from abject poverty. I made some mistakes. And I own up to that. And now I want to put this behind me so I can deliver for the American people,’ he said.
On Wednesday New York Republican Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, who will represent a nearby Hudson Valley district, demanded ‘full transparency’ and an ‘apology’ from Santos.
‘George Santos owes the people of his district the complete and total truth about his personal and professional background, and a sincere apology for his behavior,’ he said in a statement on Twitter.
‘Attempts to blame others or minimize his actions are only making things worse and a complete distraction from the task at hand.’
On Tuesday Rep.-elect Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), demanded a House Ethics investigation into Santos’ background and potential law enforcement involvement.
‘I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required. New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern without this distraction.’
LaLota is one of the first New York Republicans to publicly ask for an investigation into Santos. Members of House leadership have, so far, kept quiet on the allegations.
As many are left wondering whether Santos will be given committee assignments in the next Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was booted from her committees by Democrats for incendiary remarks against Jews and the left, jumped to his defense.
‘I think we Republicans should give George Santos a chance and see how he legislates and votes, not treat him the same as the left is,’ she tweeted Tuesday, after praising him earlier in the day for ‘being honest with his district now.’
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