You can read the 13 count indictment against Republican Representative George Santos HERE. When you read it don’t be thrown off by the references to “Devolder Santos,” that’s George. His full name is George Anthony Devolder Santos.
Santos is basically charged with two criminal schemes. The first was to convert, campaign contributions to his own personal use. In essence he is charged with stealing from those who contributed to his campaign. The allegation is he fraudulently secured their donations by promising to use the money to get elected and instead used it to buy himself nice stuff. About half the 13 counts are related to the fraud, false statements and money laundering in support of that scheme.
The second scheme was to fraudulently apply for and receive unemployment benefits intended for Covid relief. Santos submitted an application falsely claiming to be unemployed when he was in fact employed as the Regional Director of an investment firm for which he was being paid a salary of $10,000 per month. Multiple charges relate to the fraudulent applications and false statements to secure these benefits.
In short, George Santos is charged with stealing from his own donors and stealing from the American people. Speaker McCarthy yesterday stated he would wait to see the charges before deciding whether to remove Santos from the House. We’ll see shortly how low his standards are.
