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Republican Rep. George Santos of New York, whose brief tenure in Congress has been dominated by scandal, was arrested by federal authorities on Wednesday on a slew of charges including money laundering, wire fraud, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress.
The 13-count indictment, unsealed by the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, accuses Santos of masterminding “a scheme to defraud supporters of his candidacy for the House and to obtain money from them by fraudulently inducing supporters to contribute funds” to an unnamed company “under the false pretense that the money would be used to support [Santos’] candidacy.”
The indictment alleges that Santos actually spent the money on personal expenses such as “luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”
Santos, who has been facing calls to resign since he admitted to lying about his background following his election to Congress late last year, is expected to appear in federal court in New York later Wednesday.
“This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”
“He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives,” Peace continued. “My office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively root out corruption and self-dealing from our community’s public institutions and hold public officials accountable to the constituents who elected them.”
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