Watchdog group calls for FEC to investigate Rep. George Santos

NEW YORK — A federal watchdog on Monday urged the Federal Election Fee to research Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., alleging he violated federal marketing campaign finance legal guidelines by concealing the true sources of marketing campaign donations, misrepresenting marketing campaign spending and illegally utilizing marketing campaign funds for private bills

Marketing campaign Authorized Middle, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, mentioned Santos “actively deceived the general public all through the 2022 election by fabricating just about each side of his life” and compounded these fabrications with violations of federal legislation.

“As a part of his newest marketing campaign of duplicity, Santos additionally seems to have violated federal marketing campaign finance legal guidelines by knowingly and willfully concealing the true sources of his marketing campaign’s funding, misrepresenting how his marketing campaign spent its cash, and illegally paying for private bills with marketing campaign funds. Notably in mild of Santos’s mountain of lies about his life and {qualifications} for workplace, the Fee ought to completely examine what seem like equally brazen lies about how his marketing campaign raised and spent cash,” the criticism mentioned.

Santos, 34, admitted to fabricating a lot of his biography — together with mendacity about attending the distinguished Horace Mann Faculty, graduating from Baruch Faculty and dealing for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup — after he gained the midterm election to signify New York’s third Congressional District. 4 completely different legislation enforcement workplaces are wanting into his public disclosures: the New York legal professional normal, Queens district legal professional, Nassau district legal professional and U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of New York.

RELATED | Santos sworn in as Home member to signify NY amid scandal over his previous

The criticism mentioned it was implausible for Santos to assert he loaned his marketing campaign $705,000, questioning “how he might have completed so along with his personal funds” since his monetary disclosure types reported solely $55,000 of revenue in 2020.

“His claims of getting earned thousands and thousands of {dollars} in 2021 and 2022 from a supposed consulting enterprise that he began in Could 2021, Devolder Group LLC, are imprecise, uncorroborated and non-credible in mild of his many earlier lies,” the criticism mentioned.

The criticism accused Santos “knowingly and willfully acted as a straw donor” funneling unlawful contributions to his marketing campaign from “unknown individuals” who supplied cash disguised as revenue from Santos’ enterprise.

“The amount and timing of Santos’s dramatic enhance in revenue and belongings, the shortage of a transparent clarification of how he generated that revenue, his well-documented penchant for dishonesty, and the truth that he then used $705,000 from his sudden windfall to fund his subsequent congressional marketing campaign strongly means that the fast shift in Santos’s funds was not a mere coincidence, however a direct results of unknown individuals straight, and illegally, giving him cash to run for federal workplace,” the criticism mentioned.

There was no instant remark from Santos or his representatives.

Santos has refused to resign from his place and mentioned he’s not a “fraud” or a “pretend” in an interview with Fox Information earlier this month.

“I consider that in an effort to transfer previous this and transfer ahead … I’ve to face my errors and I am going through them,” Santos mentioned within the interview.

ABC Information’ Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.

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