New charges against an elected official known for his lies

(New York) The elected representative to the American House of Representatives George Santos, whose lies have made the headlines of the political and media world since his election at the end of 2022, was indicted on Tuesday by the courts with 10 additional counts for frauds.


The New York State Republican elected official pleaded not guilty in New York last May to seven counts of electronic fraud, three of money laundering, two of making false statements to the House of Representatives about his assets and one of embezzlement. public.

On Tuesday, prosecutors added 10 more counts to those charges against Mr. Santos, including identity theft and fraudulent statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

George Santos is “suspected of stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their permission, thereby lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about his financial situation.” of his campaign,” said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The elected official “falsely inflated the supporting documents for his campaign with non-existent loans and contributions which were either fabricated or stolen,” added the prosecutor in a press release, specifying that the accused must appear in court on October 27 to respond to these new accusations.

After his election in November 2022, and following revelations from the New York Times, George Santos admitted to having grossly lied about entire parts of his life to embellish his CV, but has since remained deaf to calls for his resignation.

Born to parents from Brazil, the man who presented himself as a symbol of the “American dream” was accused of having lied or of having exaggerated reality by presenting himself as “an American proud to be Jewish”, or even as the grandson of Holocaust survivors who fled Nazi barbarism.

George Santos also pleaded guilty last May in Brazil to using, in 2008, stolen checks worth around $700 from an elderly person for whom his mother worked and who had died at the time of the purchases.


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