Federal prosecutors file criminal charges against New York congressman George Santos

Authorities have reportedly been investigating the congressman for campaign finance violations

Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against George Santos, the Republican congressman whose campaign was littered with falsehoods about his past.

The Justice Department unsealed a 13-count federal indictment on Wednesday (10 May) charging Mr Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Mr Santos surrendered to authorities at a federal court on Long Island and was arrested shortly after 9am. He slipped past dozens of reporters to enter via a backdoor of the building.

In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Mr Santos of lying on financial disclosure forms he filed to the House when he became a candidate. The first count alleges that he overstated his income from one job and failed to disclose income from another. The second alleges that he lied about his earnings from his company, the Devolder Organization.

Prosecutors also allege that Mr Santos fraudulently used donations to his political campaign for his own benefit, spending “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”

Mr Santos is also accused of an unemployment insurance fraud scheme before his successful congressional campaign in which he applied for government assistance in New York while still employed by a Florida-based investment firm.

The charges represent a rapid rise and fall for a man his own constituents decried as an “imposter.”

Mr Santos was elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District in November 2022, defeating Democrat Robert Zimmerman by a margin of 54 per cent to 46 per cent. Soon after that victory, it emerged that Mr Santos had lied about much of his personal history and work experience.

A New York Times investigation found that he had lied about working for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, lied about the college he attended, fabricated an animal charity, that the company from which he had earned a salary of $750,000 and dividends of $1m did not have any online presence, lied about saying he lost four employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, and that he faced criminal charges in Brazil for cheque fraud.

A local pressure group started by local citizens was formed with the aim of forcing Mr Santos from office. They held regular protests outside his campaign office and called on Republican leaders to expel him from Congress.

Republican House majority leader Kevin McCarthy refused to hold a vote to expel Mr Santos, but the GOP leader said he would likely face a probe by the House Ethics Committee.

Following the news of criminal charges on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy told CNN: “I’ll look at the charges.”

Since Mr Santos was sworn into office in January, revelations about his past have continued to emerge. The most recent report found that Mr Santos was charged with writing bad checks to purchase puppies from Amish farmers in 2017.

Mr Santos, 34, has apologised for what he described as “résumé embellishment,” but has refused to resign.

The Independent contacted New York’s Eastern District for comment.