Santos didn’t reply to a textual content message searching for remark. A spokeswoman didn’t reply and an legal professional for the congressman declined to remark. A spokesman for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District of New York declined to remark.
The federal allegations mark the most recent chapter in a saga that has put Santos, 34, below a vibrant highlight in Washington and past. The lies he advised voters, in a district stretching from components of Lengthy Island to Queens, solely unraveled after his November victory. He apologized for what he known as “résumé embellishment.”
However among the scrutiny has been aimed toward extra severe potential wrongdoing, together with allegedly misrepresenting his marketing campaign’s funds and deceiving individuals for his monetary acquire. Federal prosecutors’ resolution to cost Santos was first reported by CNN.
Santos has been the topic of a number of investigations. Prosecutors and federal brokers have been scrutinizing Santos’s marketing campaign finance stories and a bunch of associated questions on his private funds. Of explicit curiosity to authorities is how his earnings appeared to fluctuate considerably, in addition to a mortgage he made to his marketing campaign of greater than $700,000, based on individuals accustomed to the matter.
He additionally got here below hearth for allegedly pocketing $3,000 from a GoFundMe web page he purportedly arrange for a homeless veteran to assist pay for surgical procedure for the person’s dying service canine. In the meantime, the Securities and Trade Fee has interviewed individuals about Santos’s function in Harbor Metropolis Capital, an funding agency that was compelled to close down in 2021 after the SEC accused it of working a “basic Ponzi scheme.”
The company’s curiosity in talking with these individuals got here after they have been quoted in The Washington Put up describing how Santos solicited an funding in Harbor Metropolis at an Italian restaurant in Queens in late 2020.
Extensive-ranging complaints filed by watchdog teams with the Federal Election Fee earlier this 12 months accused Santos of misrepresenting marketing campaign spending and utilizing marketing campaign assets to cowl private bills, amongst different allegations. In January, the Justice Division’s Public Integrity Part requested the FEC to carry off on any enforcement motion towards Santos, suggesting that prosecutors have been analyzing overlapping points.
In March, a Home ethics panel stated it will examine Santos and established a bipartisan subcommittee to look at claims in regards to the freshman congressman, together with about his previous enterprise practices, marketing campaign finance expenditures and an allegation of sexual misconduct.
The congressman’s fabrications touched practically each facet of his life, from his household background to his tutorial pedigree and work expertise.
Santos stated his mom was inside one of many World Commerce Heart towers once they have been attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, however immigration information point out that his mom wasn’t in the US on that day. He claimed to have labored for high-powered Wall Road corporations that denied using him. He even falsely claimed to have been a star on his school volleyball workforce.
Republican leaders in his district and members of New York’s congressional delegation known as on him to resign, however Santos refused. After initially dodging cameras and refusing interviews within the halls of Congress, the lawmaker got here to embrace his notoriety. He threw in with the far-right faction of his social gathering and endorsed former president Donald Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign. Final month, he introduced that he would search reelection.
At a January occasion hosted on the Conrad Lodge by Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for donors and new members of Congress, Santos was requested how he was faring, based on two individuals current.
“That is an occasion for the brand new speaker, however I’m probably the most well-known individual within the room,” he replied.
Azi Paybarah and Jonathan O’Connell in Washington and Shayna Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.