USA: Republican Congressman George Santos Arrested and Charged with Fraud and Money Laundering

First modification: 05/10/2023 – 20:20

The Republican congressman for New York, George Santos, was arrested and charged on 13 charges this Wednesday, May 10, according to the United States Department of State.

The politician was accused of seven crimes of fraud, three of money laundering, two of theft of public funds and another two for false testimony, as can be read in the document of his capture.

The authorities point to him as suspected of defrauding possible political sympathizers, because he would have laundered donation funds to pay for his personal expenses, including luxury designer clothes

Santos would have used political donations “to line his pockets” and also take advantage of unemployment funds, which should have been used to help those who lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Breon Peace, federal attorney for the Eastern District of NY.

The legislator is also accused of allegedly receiving unemployment benefits “illegally” when he was actually working.

On the other hand, Santos is accused of repeatedly making false statements about his income, assets and liabilities in the forms he filed with the Lower House.

“Taken together, the allegations suggest that Santos repeatedly relied on dishonesty and deceit to climb the halls of Congress and enrich himself,” Peace added.

If found guilty, the conservative politician would face “a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison for the most serious charges,” specified the Department of Justice.

George Santos, the congressman who “beautified” his resume to be elected

Santos’ name came into the public eye after the newspaper ‘The New York Times‘ revealed at the end of 2022-a few days after the election of the Republican as a congressman-a series of frameworks with which the politician “beautified” his resume through altered data about his studies, family ties and religion, among other false information.

The same 34-year-old congressman admitted that he altered his resume with some details that did not correspond to the truth, in order to be able to ascend to the halls of Congress and “get rich.”

Peace noted that with this case it seeks to “aggressively eradicate corruption and self-deception from public institutions, as well as hold public officials accountable to the constituencies that elected them.”

After the name of Santos became in the media, other media began to reveal other money movements of the congressman and although the Republican party distanced itself, it has allowed him to keep his seat in Washington.

But these are not the only cases that dot Santos. In Brazil, he is accused of identity theft and fraud with false checks, with which he would have robbed a store in Rio de Janeiro in 2008.

In 2010, the politician confessed his guilt in the facts, but the case was stopped after he moved to the United States and could not be reached by the authorities of the South American country.

Why Santos has not been removed from office?

So far, the congressman of Brazilian descent has not been found guilty and prosecutor Peace will be in charge of presenting the evidence in court.

The Republicans have a tight majority in the House of Representatives: 222 seats compared to the 213 for the Democrats, so losing a position could explain the tolerance that the political caucus has maintained with their legislator.

Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee decided to open an investigation against the congressman to determine if he did not correctly fill out financial disclosure forms and if he participated in other illegal activities during his campaign.

However, the newspaper ‘The New York Times’ points out that in the United States there is no law that orders that a member of Congress cannot continue with his work while he is being investigated or accused of a crime.

In the country there are some cases in which legislators kept their seats while they had an open process and did not resign until after pleading guilty.

With EFE and local media