The long trail of lies has finally caught up with Rep. George Santos, who was indicted on Wednesday for enriching himself by defrauding political donors, cheating the federal government to get COVID relief funds, and faking House disclosure forms.
The Justice Department unsealed a 13-count indictment Tuesday morning that detailed the variety of ways Santos used his brief political rise to dupe taxpayers and donors—an eagerly awaited law enforcement action that followed months of investigative news reports about his wide ranging fraudster lifestyle.
Santos was placed into custody Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. He is expected to be arraigned later today.
Investigators have been probing Santos’ campaign and financial affairs for months. Since being elected last year, the congressman has been accused of lying about his life story, work history, and education, and questions have been raised surrounding unusual payments and loans surrounding his campaign.
Despite the mounting scrutiny, Santos was apparently surprised when federal prosecutors filed sealed charges in the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday. “This is news to me,” he told the Associated Press when approached for comment. “You’re the first to call me about this.”
Aside from the allegations which led to his criminal charges, Santos had previously been accused of fabricating large swathes of his biography— including not disclosing a marriage and lying that his mother was killed on 9/11—as well as stealing money intended to pay for a veteran’s dog’s surgery, using a stolen checkbook to buy clothes in Brazil, running a credit card fraud scheme, and possibly making up an “assassination attempt.”
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